


A Story Retold

by Lost_in_a_dream



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Birdflash - Freeform, Chalant, F/M, Fem!Dick Grayson - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Ship Wars, fem!robin - Freeform, male!Barbara Gordon, male!Zatanna, pending ships, reverse batfam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2020-05-15 08:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 25,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19291597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_in_a_dream/pseuds/Lost_in_a_dream
Summary: Rachelle "Dixie" Grayson never really had a normal life. Her life was never- will never be- a perfect, simple and common life. She grew up being a trapeze artist in the circus. It was normal for a while, considering that she lived in the circus her whole life and never really stayed in one city for a long time. It all had to end at some point though. At the age of nine, her whole family was murdered right before her eyes. She was adopted by one of the richest men in the universe. She now had 4 older brothers who watched over her.  Sounds normal but what others don't know is that she has a secret that only a few people know. By day, she was the Golden Girl of Gotham and by night she was Robin, the Girl Wonder. Follow her adventures on being Batman's protege.Originally posted on Wattpad





	1. Chapter 1

Bruce sat in his study room, deep in thought. He kept thinking of the newspaper he read two weeks ago and especially the event that took place the night before the newspaper was released.

The snap of the ropes, the falling bodies, the horrid sound of breaking bones, the foul stench of blood and death and Bruce would always remember the scream of a young girl who lost everything.

He still remembered it so clearly. How he remembers the same pain and hollowness he experienced by just looking into that girl’s blue eyes. The pain of losing a loved one right before your eyes. He saw how the girl’s bright beautiful blue eyes, that even he himself didn’t know that was possible to be eye color, shine not even a few minutes ago die and become hollow and cold.

Bruce was snapped out of his thoughts when there was a knock on the door. He turned to see Alfred standing by the door.

“Master Tim is requesting for your presence, sir,” the butler said.

Bruce stayed quiet for a while before he spoke. “Thank you, Alfred. Would you please tell him and the others that a family meeting will be in order.”

Alfred simply nodded. “Of course, Master Bruce.”

____________

“What do you mean she’s not in any of the orphanages?”

Tim was confused, did someone adopt her already?

Jason finally looked up from his game to look at what his adoptive father said. Jason looked at his older brothers and saw them confused as well.

After Alfred calling the three boys, Bruce told Damian to tell the others to go to the car while he made a quick call. Damian didn’t question his father but there was obvious confusion and did what he was told. 

“Well, Mr. Wayne… All the orphanages in Gotham are full so we had no choice but to place her in Juvenile Detention Center-”

“WHAT?!” Jason yelled at the receptionist, cutting her off and his game now forgotten. “Just because all the orphanages are full doesn’t mean you have to send a NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL in Juvie!! WHO THE HECK SAID IT WAS ALLOWED TO SEND A CHILD THERE?!”

Tim looked at Jason with wide eyes but not surprised at the same time. One minute he was just there playing his game with no care for the world and the next he was screaming at the receptionist but knowing that it hit Jason more close to home, Tim expected this behavior. Bruce and Damian though had their poker face on and continued to stare at the receptionist.

The receptionist paled a bit and coughed before answering the angry boy.

“W-well, there were several who heavily disagreed but since there weren’t any options, she was sent there.” The receptionist stammered.

“BULLSHIT!”

“Jason! Watch your words!” Tim yelled at his younger brother.

Tim didn’t blame Jason for cursing though. He knew that Jason lived on the streets, stealing wheels from cars just to earn money. He knew Jason was one of the only one out of the three of them to actually live for a while without a guardian.

“Where is she now?” Damian spoke up but it sounded more of a demand than a question.

“S-she stayed there for at Juvenile Detention Center for a while but was transferred a few days ago to a Catholic orphanage after the guards found out that she was being beaten up by a number of inmates”

Jason continued to glare at the receptionist. He opened his mouth to yell at the receptionist once more but he was cut off by his adoptive father.

“What’s the name of the orphanage?” Bruce asked the receptionist, his face devoid from emotions.

“Bonthhold Orphanage, sir.”

“Thank you, miss. Sorry for the trouble that my sons and I caused. We’ll be on our way.”

With that Bruce turned and walked to the direction of the car, Damian following Bruce without a word. Jason continued to glare at the receptionist, who was squirming under the gaze of the boy. Jason felt Tim place a hand on his shoulder and that was when Jason turned and stomped out off the room. The sixteen-year-old sighed and looked apologetically at the receptionist and left to follow the rest of his family.


	2. Chapter 2

Damian examined the building in front of him, trying to assess it.

There was a tall, wrought iron gate that surrounded the Catholic orphanage that only had one gate. There was a small garden at the front where several lilies and roses grew and space for the kids to run and play around. The building itself seemed to be small and have only two floors and a small porch. The walls of the orphanage were painted a dark gray and ivy was growing on the side of the building. There was also a wooden bench on the porch, probably for the caregivers and nuns to sit down and watch over the kids. There was also a crucifix on top of the porch. A golden plate that said, “Bonthhold Catholic Orphanage” was hanged to a pillar that supported the porch.

Damian was snapped out by the sound of the gate being pushed open. His father walked on the small cobblestone road and walked up to the steps of the porch and knocked on the door with the door knocker.

The three brothers followed their father to the front door. When they got near, they could hear the pitter-patter of footsteps from the second floor and kids laughing and screaming.

The door opened and a nun was standing there shocked by who was standing on the porch of the small Catholic Orphanage.

“M-Mister Wayne, sir. Please come in,” the sister stuttered and moved aside to let the Waynes enter the orphanage.

Bruce and the three brothers entered the small building and were led by the nun to the living room of the place. Damian noted that the place was more spacious than it looked on the outside. There were lego pieces, dolls, toy cars and another bunch of toys scattered on the floor of the living room. There was a small unlit fireplace that was surrounded by three couches, that was forming a semi-circle. On top of the fireplace was a huge portrait of kids and nuns and even some teenagers. On top of the portrait was a crucifix like the one outside.

Damian sat on one of the couches followed by his brothers and father. The nun sat across from them, still shocked at why a billionaire was in the orphanage.

“So what bring you here Mister Wayne?” the nun asked.

“Well, thank you for having us, sister,” Bruce said showing his billionaire playboy smile. “We actually came from social services to find a young girl named Rachelle Grayson and we were told that she was here.”

The sister nodded knowing who they were looking for. Rachelle Grayson was the nine-year-old girl who came from Haly’s Circus but after the accident that caused the death of her family, she was sent to Juvie cause there weren’t any orphanages that could take her. She stayed there in Juvie for a week and a half before she was transferred there around two days ago.

The nun gave a small smile to the Waynes and stood up. “Wait right here, I’ll go get her.”

Bruce nodded and the nun went out of the living room, leaving the Waynes alone. The silence in the living room was broken when Jason spoke.

“So… I’m not gonna be the youngest anymore,” Jason said in a smug tone. Tim sighed and gave Jason twenty dollars while Damian rolled his eyes at his younger brothers. Bruce didn’t say nor asked anything since he knew what they betted on without even being told.

Jason laughed triumphally and kept his now twenty dollars in his pocket.

The nun then walked backed in but this time with a small petite black haired girl hiding behind the nun. But that wasn’t why the brothers were shocked at. They were shocked by the nine-year old’s eyes. The nine-year-old had bright blue eyes that just took your breath away. Her sky blue eyes almost seemed to be an impossible shade for someone in the whole world to have.

The little girl clutched the dress of the nun while trying to hide behind the nun while observing the people in the living room. She was just reading an English learning book in her room while the other kids played tag when Sister Emilie knocked in her room saying there were people downstairs looking for her.

Bruce stood up, with a small smile on his face and walked to the little girl who was still hiding behind the nun. He crouched down so he won’t seem intimidating to the nine-year-old.

He gave a gentle smile to the nine-year-old and for some reason, she felt herself warm up a little to the man in front of her.

“Hi Rachelle, I’m Bruce Wayne. It’s nice to meet you,” Bruce said.

“Dixie,” the little girl whispered. The three brothers barely even heard her from how soft she said it.

Bruce smile even more and said, “Well then Dixie, how do you like it if I were to adopt you.”

Dixie looked at the man in shock. She wasn’t that fluent in the English language, it was too complicated for her but she did understand what he said or at least the words “like” and “adopt you”.

The young girl seemed to have a mental debate as she looked at the three boys seated on the chairs as they stared at her. Noticing this, the brothers gave her a small yet comforting smile. They didn’t want to give the young girl a bad impression of themselves.

Dixie looked down on the ground and gave a small smile and whispered a small ‘yes’. Bruce’s smile grew and he gave out his hand for her to hold.

Dixie went to hold his hand reluctantly and gave him another small smile. She didn’t even notice when she let go of Sister Emilie’s dress nor when Sister Emilie stood at the doorway with a smile on her face until she spoke.

“Well then, I guess I should start fetching the adoption papers.”


	3. Chapter 3

It’s been over a month since she arrived in the manor. Dixie sat alone in her room in Wayne Manor reading an English copy of Grimm's Fairytales. After learning more English words thanks to her older brothers who would help her learn the complicated language. Even though she learned a lot of the English language there are still many words that are hard for her to understand and how there are a ton on English rules like tenses, punctuation marks, grammar and other complicated things that non-English speakers find complicated!

Dixie sighed and closed the book that her second oldest brother, Tim, gave her. He said that it was actually their sister’s copy of the book when she was still learning English but what was weird was that Dixie never saw another girl in the mansion beside her. Dixie set the book to the side and stood up from her bed. She stretched her arms and legs and did a cartwheel.

Her room in the manor was huge compared to her trailer where she and her family lived! Heck maybe the trailer can even fit in her room and there would still be space!

After stretching a bit more, Dixie went out of her room and into the long hallways of Wayne Manor. As she suspected, the hallways were deserted and completely quiet. If Dixie didn’t live here, she would have thought that this part of the mansion was empty but since she did live here, she knew that it should be noisy seeing that across the hallways was her brothers’ rooms.

After knocking on all three rooms and hearing nothing but pure silence from the other side of the door, the nine-year-old made her way down the stairs towards the living room. Empty, just to be expected.

Only having one place left to go, Dixie headed towards the kitchen in hopes of finding Alfred. She made her way into the dining hall that leads to the kitchen. However, the kitchen opened all of a sudden, scaring Dixie in the process. The nine-year old's instinct suddenly hit her and she dove under the large dining table.

Ever since her time in Juvie, the young girl became jumpy and scared very easily that she would instantly hide from plain sight so she wouldn’t be caught by the people who like to bully her, boss her around or scare her because they were bored.

Hiding under the large dining table, Dixie sighed when she saw it was just Alfred that exited the kitchen. She was about to go out of her hiding space but stopped when she noticed that Alfred was brisk walking and didn’t seem to notice her.

She watched as Alfred hurriedly walked out of the dining room and into the living room. Dixie crawled out of her hiding spot and her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Why does Alfred look like he was in a hurry?

Intrigued, the nine-year-old quietly pushed the dinning door open just a little bit in time to see Alfred changed the hands of the old grandfather clock that was in the corner of the living room. He changed the arms of the grandfather clock to 10:47 and the grandfather clock suddenly rose upwards to reveal an elevator.

What? Since when was there an elevator in the Manor? Where does that even lead to? It can't possibly go up, the architecture won't add up? Is that where the other disappear to?

Dixie pushed away the fear and stare in wonder as Alfred stepped inside the elevator and the grandfather clock slid back down, the hands of the clock moving by itself to the correct time, it was back in its old position looking like it wasn’t even moved.

Once she saw that the coast was clear, Dixie pushed the dinning door and ran up straight to the grandfather clock. She tiptoed and tried to reach the longest hand of the clock, her fingers nicked the very tip but it didn't move, not even a centimeter. She sighed and looked for something she could climb on so she can reach the clock hand.

Where's a mono-block chair or even a step stool when you need one?

Sighing in defeat, the young girl was about to give up when she remembered there was a step stool in the kitchen, why there was a step stool, she didn't know. She quickly ran back into the dining and into the kitchen. The kitchen was empty, not a single chef or maid in sight. She quickly opened the cupboard that hid the stepstool and carried it.

Running back to the grandfather clock, she set the stepstool and reached for the minute hand once more. Once she had a grip on the clock hand, she quickly rotated it until it was 10:47 sharp.

Without warning the old clock rose as it did with Alfred. Dixie had to balance herself so she wouldn't fall. She quickly jumped off the stepstool and quickly placed the stepstool to the side and dashed in. Who knows if this thing had a timer.

Once she entered the blue lighted elevator, the doors closed and it started going down.

Well… no place but down then… 

She gulped and swallowed down her fears if this was where her brothers and dad were disappeared to, then she wanted answers.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Dixie felt the elevator stopped, the doors instantly opened and the nine-year-old saw a massive cave filled with state of the art technology and several floors and catwalks.

There was a huge supercomputer in the cave's centerpiece with a huge office chair in front of it. There was a tunnel on the bottom floor with a bunch of vehicles. From where the nine-year-old girl was standing, she could also see a medical bed and some medical equipment in an open room. There were also a bunch of glass cases that held… suits? inside.

What caught her attention though was the huge things in the cave. There was a giant animatronic T-rex, a giant replica of a Lincoln penny and an oversized Joker playing card. The nine-year-old was pretty sure that if she made one wrong move, she was going to die right there at that very moment.

All of a sudden, a hand was placed on her shoulder, making the nine-year-old scream and jump away. She turned to see Alfred standing there with a blank expression.

"A-Alfred?!" The young girl screamed in shock.

"What are you doing here Miss Rachelle? You're supposed to be in bed an hour ago," the butler said, his face still devoid of emotions.

Dixie started squirming under his stare. This was worse than the times Jason or Damian would fight with each other. Way worse.

"U-uh, I was just looking for Tim or the others but their rooms were empty so went to look for you. I saw you go through this elevator hidden behind the grandfather clock, so I followed you… I'm sorry, I just didn’t want to be alone," Dixie said, her head bowed so that she wouldn't have to look at Alfred's face that would probably scrunch up in disappointment.

She heard Alfred let out a small sigh before she was picked up and was placed at his side. She turned to him in shock, he wasn't going to get mad at her?

Alfred seemed to read her mind since he spoke. "I'm not angry at you, young miss. Just promise me that you will not speak of this place, especially not to Master Bruce or your brothers. You will learn of this place in due time, just be patient."

Dixie just nodded and leaned to lay her head on his shoulders. "I promise, Alfred."

"Now, it's time to put you in bed."

Alfred walked up to the elevator and pressed a button and once the doors opened he went in. The ride up and the walk towards her room was quiet, Dixie being too sleepy to make a conversation with the butler. The adrenaline from earlier wearing off and her fatigue started to set in.

Alfred laid the nine-year-old on her bed and tucked her in. He was about to close the door on his way out when he heard Dixie say something.

"Thanks, Alfred. Goodnight."

The butler smiled and replied, "Goodnight, young miss."

He softly closed the door and left the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

Gotham City  
July 4, 12:00 EDT  
–––––––––––––––

The day was going just fine. Families enjoying their time at Gotham Park. Families who were playing with freebies, playing with their dogs, enjoying a nice jog. A father stands over a barbecue grill, cooking the sausages and burger patties for his daughter and son. He calls out his daughter to get a plate seeing that the patties were ready. Just as he handed her a plate, they heard screams coming towards them. They turned to see a huge group of people running and screaming. They looked up when they heard a thump from the huge boulder behind them only to find Mr. Freeze towering over them.

"Enjoying family time?" He then lowered the gun to face them and pulled the trigger. "My family has other plans."

The villain slid down from the now frozen family and raised his gun to freeze the other people who were running only for his gun to get hit with a batarang.

Freeze turned to look at the direction the batarang came from. "Batman, I was wondering when-"

He turned to see no one behind him and only to hear a cackle that seemed like it came from all around him. He looked around to find the source but he suddenly felt like it darkened all of the sudden and looked up just in time to see Robin land on his helmet from above making his helmet crack a bit.

The girl wonder landed a couple of feet away from the now fallen villain and brought two batarangs and threw it at Freeze's helmet making it crack even further.

"Oh," Mr. Freeze said with disappointment as he stood up. "Girl Wonder, the Bat sent you to drag me off to prison. Frankly, I'm underwhelmed."

"Great, but I'm kinda in a hurry here," Robin said, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground while crossing her arms.

"Kids, always in a rush," Freeze said with an eye roll and raised his gun, starting it up.

"Not talking to you," Robin sang, rolling her eyes at him and let out her signature smirk.

Realization dawned of the ice villain's face and turned around just in time to see Batman jump from behind the boulder and punch him, making it the final blow and breaking his helmet and knocking him out.

"You were sloppy," Batman said in his normal monotonous tone.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I just can't help it! Today's the day!" Robin exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. She suddenly heard her nineteenth-year-old brother's voice come from her earpiece.

"Well, if you don't want to be late for your playdate with your boyfriend, you better hurry," Tim teased.

"KF is not my boyfriend!" Robin yelled, her face instantly turning scarlet.

"He never said he was talking about Kid Flash, birdy," Jason said between his laughter. Robin blushed even harder at that.

"Oh, shut up! I don’t tease you when you think you're sneaking away without anyone knowing! I know as a fact that you sneak to meet up with Speedy! Don’t try to deny it, Hood!" Robin yelled in mockery.

Batman just stood there watching his daughter fight with her brothers on the communication link. Things never changed.

"What?! How could you?!" Robin suddenly yelled. "I told you that if ever Agent A made cookies, you guys should save me some! I always leave you guys some!"

Yup, never changed.

Batman sighed on the inside, "Robin, let's go."

The thirteen-year-old turned to her mentor and nodded. She could deal with her brothers later, she had more important things to care about.

That didn't stop her from continuing the fight in the Batmobile though, it was going to be one long ride.  
_________________

Washington, D.C.  
July 4, 14:00 EDT  
–––––––––––––––

Standing in front of the Hall of Justice was just like she remembered. The only difference was that there was a bunch of news reporters and as well as the rest of the proteges. Besides her, Speedy and Aqualad were also standing beside their mentors. The only one missing, as usual, Flash and Kid Flash. Why didn't she expect this?

Batman placed a hand on her shoulders. "Today's the day."

Green Arrow spoke next. "Welcome to the Hall of Justice."

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman added.

Wow, was this rehearsed? If she wasn't excited, she would have definitely made a joke about it.

"Aww, man," a familiar voice was heard. The heroes turned to look behind them just to see both Flash and Kid Flash skit to a stop. "I knew it we'll be the last ones here," Wally sulked while crossing his arms.


	6. Chapter 6

With the whole group now complete, the group of heroes began to walk forward towards the entrance and was immediately bombarded by the press.

"Is that Batman?"

"I see Flash and Flash Jr!"

"Wait, I thought it was Speedy?"

"No, Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick."

"Well, that makes no sense."

Robin laughed silently after hearing that, she knew that KF hated it when they mistake his name. She knew the feeling though since the press kept on mistaking her as a boy and calling her Boy Wonder when she was younger. There was a huge debate about it all over the newspapers, was Robin a boy or a girl? Luckily the issue was fixed after an incident that she would rather forget. KF, however, still has to live with the fact that there are still people like the press who are still getting his name wrong despite him being in the hero business for about four years.

Robin was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by Green Arrow speaking to Speedy.

"Ready to see the inner sanctums?"

Speedy smirked and confidently strode forward. "Born that way."

Robin shook her head, he was always the confident type. Been that way since she met him. It was no wonder why he and Jason are best friends.

Aqualad looked at her and smile softly.

"I'm glad we’re all here," Kid Flash suddenly said before she could smile back to Aqualad. "It's rare for all of us sidekicks to be out in public at the same place, at the same time."

"Don't call us sidekicks," Speedy growled after hearing what the speedster said. "Not after today."

KF cringed back. "Sorry, I'm a little overwhelmed, first time at the hall."

Robin was about to speak about how he should be more excited to go see the Watch Tower but decided not to speak about it, especially since the press might catch on what she would say. She started to ponder on what he said though, overwhelmed, and yet what Freeze said earlier, underwhelmed…

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't any ever just whelmed?" She suddenly blurted out.

Kid Flash looked at her with a confused faced but didn’t say anything, he was used to her butchering the English language anyways. He can't wait to tell her about what he was doing but decided to just surprise her on her birthday.

When they finally entered, seven huge statues of the original seven founding members that might have been around eighteen feet tall greeted them.

"Oh," Robin stared at the statues with awe. "Maybe that's why."

Despite her almost growing up in the Watch Tower or Mount Justice when it was still the base of the Justice League before, she never entered the Hall of Justice despite knowing that it was also one of the places that hid a Zeta tube.

They continued walking until they were lead into the library.

"Make yourself at home," Flash gestured to the couches and chairs.

Aqualad sat down on one of the open-armed chairs while Kid Flash practically jumped on one and stretched out. Despite being a bit confused, Robin sat down on one of the open-armed chairs beside KF ignoring the fact her brothers can tease her about it later.

Speedy, however, didn't sit down. He looked downright furious.

"Is that all?" He asked with malice in his voice. KF looked at him confused on what he meant. Robin just stared and kept quiet just like Aqualad.

"Should there be more?" Robin asked. She knew what he meant though, she was wondering the same as well but she   
Knew better than to question the League, or more specifically Batman.

Speedy just snorted. "Of course there's more. I thought today was always about showing us the actual HQ, showing us that you trusted us!" The last one aimed specifically to his mentor.

Green Arrow stepped up. "Of course we trust you," he said carefully. "It's just-"

"Wait," Kid Flash cut him off and jumped to his feet. "This isn’t the actual Justice League Headquarters?"

Speedy snorted once more and strutted to the windows where civilians can look from outside the room.

"Of course it isn't," he yelled in exasperation. "This is just a front for the press. And apparently gullible sidekicks."

Kid Flash and Aqualad looked at their mentors in surprised but Robin just stared at Speedy. She could feel Batman staring at her, waiting for a reaction from her. Her brothers are possibly even listening from her earpiece, heck they could have even hacked the video cameras and can be watching what's going on right now.

Kid Flash suddenly turned to face her, his face scrunched up in hurt and confusion. "Did you know?"

It hurt. He didn't trust her but she didn't blame him. She kept secrets even if she didn't want to. It was part of the deal of being the protegee of Batman. Who would trust her?

She kept quiet and turned away, avoiding to make eye contact with anyone. She couldn’t face him knowing that she kept it a secret.

"Yes," she admitted, her voice was small yet hurt. "I thought that that's where we’re going. I guess it was a joke though, I thought that we were going to use the Zeta beam here and go to the Watch Tower, the real HQ but I guess I was wrong. Apparently, they don't trust us enough."

Speedy just got angrier after hearing this. Even Robin, the one whom the League trusted the most, the young girl they raised and cared for, was hurt because of them. Speedy kicked the armchair near him needing to blow some steam.

Green Arrow approached cautiously. "Roy, we'll show you eventually, you just need a little more patience."

Roy snapped at that. "What I need is respect." He turned to look at the other protegees who looked dejected. "We deserve better than this. They're treating us like kids– no, worse, like sidekicks."

There was so much venom in his words that Green Arrow actually took a step backward. Aquaman stepped forward placing a hand on Speedy's shoulder. "You're not helping you're cause here, son. Stand down or-"

Speedy threw the hand of his shoulder. "Or what?! You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his!" He yelled, jerking his head towards Green Arrow who looked like he was just slapped in the face. "I thought he was my partner, but not anymore."

Robin looked up in shocked after hearing that. She saw Speedy throw his hat to the ground and stomp out of the room.

"Roy!" She yelled standing up. Speedy– no, Roy, actually stopped but didn’t turn to face her. "Please, don’t do this, we need you. I know it hurts but please, don’t leave us." Don’t leave me.

Her voice trembled as she spoke, she was losing her emotions. She didn’t care if the press who stood behind the window taking pictures of the Girl Wonder breaking down. She didn't want to lose anyone else.

Roy looked down to his feet and finally responded. "No, you don't. They need you more than they need me. Stay here, we both know you have a bright future ahead of you, don't follow me cause you actually have people who care for you."

Without even hearing her reply, he left the room. Robin stared at his back in dismay, another person that left her. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and was pulled into a hug. She didn't fight it though, she wrapped her arms around the person who was hugging her. She hid her face in his chest and tried to gather her emotions.

Before anyone can say anything else, the computers sparked to life showing Superman.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

Batman moved forward to the computer without looking at Robin who had yet to detach herself from Kid Flash. "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus, this might be the perfect opportunity to-"

Before he could finish what he was saying, another computer screen lit up that showed Zatara.

"Zatara to Justice League! The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Attan to block the sun. Requesting full League response."

"Superman?" Batman turned to look at Superman, expecting a response.

"It's a small fire, local authority should be able to take care of it."

Batman nodded and gave out orders. "Then Cadmus can wait. All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out."

The heroes looked to turn at the three proteges. Robin had lifted her head from Kid Flash's chest to look at what her mentor had to say, the other two proteges doing the same.

"Stay put," Batman ordered.

"What?" Robin asked, her voice soft and almost broken. "Why?"

"This is a League mission," Aquaman stepped up.

"You're not trained," the Flash added.

"Since when?" Kid Flash snapped.

"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team," Flash corrected himself.

"There will be other missions when you're ready," Aquaman spoke up once more, not wanting Flash to give them the wrong idea.

"But for now, stay put," Batman ordered, his voice final and leaving no room for debate.

The Leaguers started to leave but Green Arrow whispered to Martian Manhunter as the others started to walk past them.

" Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?"

"Indeed," Martian Manhunter answered as the two of them left the room as well.

The last hero to leave was Red Tornado. He first stared the three proteges and turned to leave as well. Leaving them alone in the room.

Kid Flash broke the silence with a scoff.

"When we're ready?" His voice contained anger and hurt. He threw his hands up in the air, breaking the hug between him and Robin. "How are we supposed to be ready when they treat us like– like sidekicks?!"

Aqualad looked down at the floor, a frown etched on his face.

"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me," His voice sounding dejected.

"Trust?" Kid Flash asked in pure anger. "They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in space!"

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad pondered.

"I have a better question," Robin finally spoke up. Her head downcast and looking like she was beating herself up. "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

The others stared but looked down with regret. The ear-comm in hidden by her hair buzzed.

"Oh don't you dare even think about that, birdy," Jason's voice rang through the earpiece.

Robin only gritted her teeth in anger. She took off her ear-comm in one swift movement and before anyone can stop her, she threw it to the ground and stepped on it. She didn't want to talk to any of her family right now, even if it was Alfred.

Kid Flash opened his mouth to ask what happened but once she lifted her foot and saw of what used to be an ear-comm he kept quiet.

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked Robin, hoping she might know at least something about it.

"Don't know, but I can find out," Robin answered with a smirk.


	7. Chapter 7

Typing quickly on the computer in the Hall of Justice, Robin tried to hack to gain information.

“[ACCESS DENIED],” the computer spoke aloud.

“Heh,” Robin smirked as both Aqualad and Kid Flash watched from behind her. “Want to bet?”

She started pressing more buttons and the screen started to fill with codes that were moving very quickly. Kid Flash stared at the screen in awe. “Whoa, how are you doing that?”

“Same system as the batcave,” the Girl Wonder answered. She continued to type things to the computer, her eyes glued to the screen and her fingers not missing a beat.

“[ACCESS GRANTED],” the computer announced.

Robin smirked and pulled up a folder from the computer. “All right, Project Cadmus, genetics lab here in DC,” she read. “That's all there is, but if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate?”

She turned to look at Aqualad, an expecting grin on her face.

“Solve their case before they do?” Aqualad asked, unsure. But thought about it. “It would be poetic justice,” he conceded.

“Hey!” Robin said cheerfully. “They’re all about justice.”

Aqualad seemed like he was about to agree to it but sighed. “But hey said to stay put.”

“For the blotting out the sun mission, not this,” Robin said, exasperation in her tone.

“Wait,” Kid Flash spoke up after hearing what the two were talking about. He turned to his best friend with a large smile on his face. “Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you’re going, I’m going.”

They both turned to Aqualad with a large smile etched on their faces knowing that he was outnumbered.

“Just like that? We’re a team in a mission?” Aqualad said, finally giving in. He told himself it was because he didn’t want them to get hurt or in any trouble where they couldn’t get out but he knew he was just fooling himself and covering his need to prove himself to his king.

“We didn’t come for a playdate,” Robin answered with her traditional smirk on her face. Oh, the payback.

***

The wails of firetrucks and ambulances can be heard from even a block away from the burning genetics lab. Two scientists can be seen from the second floor of the burning quickly.

“Help!” One of the scientists yelled.

“Get us down!” the other one shouted, equally scared.

“Stay put,” one of the senior firefighters ordered calmly with a megaphone. “We will get you out.”

But before the firefighter can give any more orders, an explosion from behind the scientist knocked them out of the building. They both screamed for their lives as they fell to their impending doom. Just at the nick of time, Kid Flash ran at his full speed up the walls of the building thanks to the pent up momentum and caught the two falling scientists and threw them safely on the roof of the building. He only had enough momentum though to throw them to the top, leading him to start slipping down the wall of the building. Lucky for him he managed to latch onto the open window on the second floor of the building.

“It's what's his name--Flash boy!” the same firefighter from earlier yelled, relief etched on his face.

“Kid Flash!” the speedster corrected before sighing. “Why is that so hard?”

Aqualad and Robin finally arrived at the scene after seeing it from a mile away.

“So smooth,” Robin said sarcastically.

“Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan,” Aqualad started to assess the situation. He turned to look at the thirteen-year-old but was greeted by empty space. “We--Robin?”

He was only answered by the teen’s signature cackle and he turned to see her grapple into the building and helping Kid Flash. Aqualad only sighed and ran up to one of the firemen who was using the firehose to put out the fire.

“I need to borrow that,” he said before using his water-bearings to make a stable platform and raise it, with himself on it, to the roof where the two scientists were still at.

“Step aboard now,” he ordered, his voice final and left no room for questions. The two scientists stepped onto the water platform and Aqualad started to make it slowly go down. He jumped off onto the open window where Robin and Kid Flash disappeared to and waited for the platform to reach the ground with the scientists safe with the firefighters before jumping out of sight. 

He turned around and saw Robin going through one of the computers and Kid Flash was going through some of the files in a filing cabinet.

“Appreciate the help,” he thanked his teammates sarcastically. He continued to walk deeper into the building but not too far from the two.

“You handled it,” Robin replied with a small smirk as she continued to type into the computer. “Besides, we’re here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?”

Aqualad didn’t reply and walked into a hallway but a sound from his left caught his attention. He turned to see a silhouette that was tall as a human person but had long horns on top of his head. The silhouette was inside a closing elevator but before he can say something, the doors of the elevator were close.

“There was something in the-” he said to himself as she started to walk to the elevator the creature disappeared to. Kid Flash came around the corner after hearing the sound of the elevator closing.

“Elevators should be locked down,” Kid Flash thought aloud.

Robin came around the corner as well, running into the redhead speedster and went in front of the elevator.

“This is wrong,” she said aloud, seeing that the structure of the elevator. She brought up her holo-glove and started typing into it. “Thought so, this is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn’t belong in a two-story building.”

“Neither does what I saw,” Aqualad said. He stepped right in front of the metal doors and using his Atlantian strength, pulled the two doors apart.

They looked down but was greeted by several floors that seemed to be endless.

“And that’s why they need an express elevator,” Robin sighed. She got out her grapple and launched it to the top of the elevator shaft and jumped down. Aqualad and Kid Flash turned to each other and Aqualad shrugged and jumped onto the rope and jumped down with kid Flash following in pursuit.

As Robin continued to go down, her grapple stopped all of a sudden at sub-level 26. “I’m at the end of my rope,” she concluded. She started to swing herself onto the side of the elevator shaft and plugged her holo-glove into the control panel of the elevator door.

Kid Flash and Aqualad soon joined her. “Bypassing security. There, go.”

 

Receiving the okay signal, Aqualad then opened the doors as he did earlier and the three of them stepped onto Sub-level 26. They were greeted with a large red-lit hallway.

“Welcome to Project Cadmus,” Robin said under her breath.

Kid Flash started to run ahead.

“Kid! Wait!” Aqualad yelled under his breath.

Kid Flash almost didn’t have time to respond when he saw something about to hit him. He skidded on the floor, rubbing his head but when he looked up he saw a monster the size of an elephant about to step on him. He rolled to the side right before he could become a speedster pancake. He sighed in relief and ran carefully to where Robin and Aqualad was. 

The three of them stared in shock at the numerous elephant-sized creatures that continued to walk down the hallway, not even bothering to look at them. However, a small creature on the head of the elephant-sized creatures turned to look at them and it's horns started light up in red color before looking away, not bothering to spare the heroes a second glance.

“No, nothing odd going on here,” Aqualad said with an underlying sarcastic and deadpan tone as they continued to stare in shock at the passing line of creatures.


	8. Chapter 8

“Ok, I’m officially whelmed,” the thirteen-year-old said when the doors of the room she was hacking finally opened.

The room was filled with creatures encased in glass pods. The creatures looked nothing like they have ever seen before, they all looked like they came from the same origin from the creatures from a while ago but definitely different.

The three of them walked into the room, shocked at what they were seeing. The creatures looked similar to a flying insect but this time it was bigger. What was weird though was that the creatures weren’t moving at all and looked like they were all giving off electricity.

“ This is how they hid this massive underground facility From the world,” Kid Flash realized. “The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these things. Must be what they're bred for.”

“Of course! Even the name is a clue,” Aqualad supplied. “The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons' Teeth into the earth.”

“And this Cadmus creates new life too, let’s find out why,” Robin added as she knelt down and plugged her holo-glove into one of the machines.

“They call them ‘genomorphs’,” the hacker read as she quickly read the date that was being downloaded into her holo-glove. Better safe than sorry. “Whoa! Look at the stats on these things--superstrength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons!”

‘With creatures like these, they could throw the whole world into chaos,’ the girl thought to herself. ‘An unstoppable army that even the League will have a hard time to defeat, especially if these were produced in mass numbers.’

“They're engineering an army, but for who?” Kid Flash voiced her thoughts aloud as he stood by her side reading what was on her screen as well.

Suddenly a new folder appeared at the corner of her screen. “Wait. There's something else. Project Kr. Ugh! The file's triple-encrypted. I can't--”

She was suddenly cut off by a voice behind them.

“Don't move!”

The trio instantly turned to see a man in gold and gray armor and had a small genomorph like what they saw earlier on top of the large elephant-like creature. Five other genomorphs that looked like the adult version of the smaller one on the man’s shoulder.

Both Kid Flash and Aqualad instinctively stepped in front of Robin to block her from view but it was fruitless since the man still saw the young girl who was still crouched on the ground. However, Robin was only able to see a glimpse of the man before the two covered her from view. 

“Wait. Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash?” the man said realizing who the trespassers were.

“At least he got your name right,” Robin smirked as she focused again on her holo-glove, she knew that both Aqualad and Kid Flash had here back right now and she was sure that if things would go wrong she could just eject her holo-glove and escape with the two easily.

“I know you,” Aqualad said, finally realizing why the man looked familiar. “Guardian, a hero.”

“I do my best,” the man now known as Guardian shrugged off the compliment but Robin, on the other hand, tried to remember all that she could remember about him.  
Jim Harper, a policeman that became a vigilante in Metropolis. Took up the alias Guardian and caught criminals and wanted to guard society. He was often blinded to his want to end fights in a peaceful manner. Went missing a year ago.

“Then what are you doing here?” Kid Flash asked with anger in his tone. He couldn't believe that a hero like them was helping CADMUS breed creatures that can be used for mass destructions.

“I think that's my question, boys--” Robin coughed at this but was bluntly ignored. “I'm chief of security,” the older hero informed. “You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, Figure this out.”

“You think The League's gonna approve of you Breeding weapons?” Kid FLash mocked.

“Weapons? What are you--what have I--ugh. My head,” Guardian groaned as the horns of the small genomorph’s horn started to glow red. Robin quickly snuck her hand into her utility belt, grabbing onto one of her smoke bombs. Guardian’s eyes seemed to fog and he stood up straight and serious once more. “Take them down hard! No mercy!” he ordered.

The five older genomorphs sprung into action and went to attack the younger heroes. Having expected this, Robin quickly threw a smoke bomb to the ground and ejected her holo-glove from the machine. She grabbed her extra grappling hook, she reminded herself that she better keep this one cause she didn’t bring another extra grappling hook, and she quickly swung aimed it one of the second floors of the glass tubes and swung herself out of the cloud. She knew that Kid Flash would know the plan right now and keep the creatures busy for a while to give her time and then escape with Aqualad.

After making sure that she wasn’t being followed by the creatures or Guardian, she quickly plugged into the elevator shaft and started hacking her way to bring an elevator to the floor they were on. She knew that the two, mainly Aqualad, would want to leave and contact the League but Project Kr was in this building and if they go out and tell the League, this whole place would probably be gone or at least Project Kr would be transferred and knowing that this place was creating living weapons enough to destroy a city, she couldn’t let that happen.

As she was hacking the controls so that no one can override the elevator and so that the elevator would only lead them to sub-level 52, the floor Project Kr was at, she felt Kid Flash and Aqualad joins her, both on alert for their attackers.

“Way to be a team player, Rob!” Kid Flash joked, he really hated when she went full on ninja mode without telling him but also knowing that she was going to do that.

Knowing that he was going to forgive her later she only smirked. “Weren't you right behind me?” she mocked back.

The elevator finally came as Guardian and the genomorphs exits the room they were in and was about to chase them. The trio quickly runs in and the door closes right on time.

Kid Flash sighed in relief only to notice that the elevator they were on was going down.

“We’re headed down?” Aqualad voiced out the redhead’s thoughts as well when he also realized that they weren’t going up.

“Dude, out is up,” Kid Flash reminded his friend in case she forgot.

Robin rolled her eyes at the two. “Excuse me?” she asked, sass in her tone. “Project Kr? It’s down on sub-level 52.”

“This is out of control,” Aqualad scratched the back of his head, contemplating what they should do with their new finding. “Perhaps--perhaps we should contact The League.”

Both Kid Flash and Robin started to contemplate whether it was also wise to contact the League or at least their mentors. Robin placed her hands into her utility belt, grasping the cold-black communicator that would send a distress signal to the Batcave but before she could reply, the elevator dinged and opened up, making their arrival to sub-level 52 known the teens.

Right as the doors opened, they were ready to attack whoever can be in the hallway only to see that the hallways were completely empty. Quickly removing her hand out of her utility belt, Robin ran out the elevator first forgetting that she was about to contact her family.

“We are already here,” Kid Flash said sheepishly to Aqualad and ran to follow the thirteen-year-old. Aqualad just sighed and followed the two other heroes. He saw them standing as the hallway split into to.

“Which way?” Aqualad asked, turning to Robin.

“Yeah. Bizarre-looking hallway one Or bizarre-looking hallway two?” Robin asked sarcastically.

“Halt!” a voice shouted from the hallway to their left. The being who yelled at them reminded of Aqualad of the person he saw entering the elevator when they were still above. 

Down from the two horns and the red eyes, Aqualad was sure that this was the same being he earlier.

Said being’s eyes glowed red and two of the containers was flown across the hallway to hit them. The three of them quickly dodged the containers which seemed to be explosive as it exploded behind them.

Robin quickly distracted the creature by drawing a birdarang from her utility belt and threw it at the creature. The creature suddenly lifted an arm to use his telekinesis to stop the birdarang mid-air before it could hit him. But that was all the time the Girl Wonder needed to distract him and run to the other hallway with Kid Flash and Aqualad doing the same.

The creature quickly threw another two containers down the hallway the heroes ran to only for it to come up short. When the smoke from the explosions died down, he saw that the group was already gone. Instead of running to chase them down, he stood there and waited for the elevator to open and Guardian accompanied with two genomorphs run out of the elevator.

“They are headed for project Kr!” he told the supposed-to-be hero. The male quickly acknowledged him and ran to the right hallway, following the three heroes.

Meanwhile, Kid Flash was running ahead, scouting in case but as he turned a sharp left, he barely had time to notice that a female scientist walked out of a huge safe-like-room. He quickly tried to stop his inertia, digging his legs to the ground in hopes to stop himself into crashing into the scientist but in the end, he managed to slip under her, knocking her off the ground.

He quickly turned himself over the ground and was ready to help the scientist he knocked down but the sound of the doors closing behind him made him turn and see that the doors that were siding close had a sign– ‘Project Kr’. He turned again at the sound of running footsteps but only to see both Robin and Aqualad catching up to him.

Thinking quickly, Kid Flash saw the long metal containers to his left and carrying one of them and sticking in between the closing doors, giving the other two more times to make it in.

“Hurry!” he yelled before quickly running in with Robin and Aqualad quickly following in.

As Aqualad was last to enter, he saw Guardian with the two genomorphs appearing at the end of the hallway. He quickly kicked the container holding the door open and making the doors shut completely.

“I disabled the door, we’re safe,” Robin informed them from one of the computers in the room.

Aqualad quickly surveyed the room and quickly realized that there was no other door which meant that there was also no other way out. “We’re trapped.”

Before the two can get into an argument, Kid Flash, who was looking around the room they were stuck in, came to realize what Project Kr stood for.

“Uh, guys? You’ll want to see this,” his eyes wide and unbelieving at what he was seeing.

Robin and Aqualad both exchanged quick glances before walking to see what the speedster was telling them to look at.

There in the center of the room was a teenage boy inside a cylindrical glass tube like those things that can be seen in those sci-fi movies. The boy was wearing a full white bodysuit with the logo of Superman on his chest but without the gold. That wasn’t the only thing that shocked but it was also the fact that the boy looked strikingly like a younger version of the famous superhero.

Kid Flash walked around the computer in front of him to get a better look at what– or better yet who was in the tube.

Engraved on the glass encasing the boy was two words– Kr.  
“Big "k," little "r," the atomic symbol for Krypton!” Kid Flash realized aloud. He turned to Robin, expecting her to already be doing what she did best. “Clone?”

Robin, who was staring at the boy in shock, quickly snapped out of it and plugged her holo-glove into the computer in front of her and though she didn’t say it aloud, she started to download the files as well.

“Weapon designation Superboy, a clone force-grown in 16 weeks? From DNA acquired from Superman-”

“Stolen from Superman,” Aqualad corrected.

“No way the big guy knows about this,” Kid Flash agreed. There was no way that Superman would allow this faith to come to anybody, not even a clone.

Robin was quickly reading through the files when she saw why the pure white get up. “Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun Radiation 24/7.”

“And these creatures?” Aqualad questioned pointing to the three small genomorphs sitting on a small pedestal in the tube with the clone.

“Genomorph gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education,” Robin read from the files. She quickly saved some notes she had to her brain for future reference. If these creatures had the ability to force-feed, who knows if they can do anything worse like erase or change memories.

“And we can guess what else. They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son,” Kid Flash said, looking over the clone.

“Now we contact the League,” Aqualad finalized with no room for argument but it wasn’t needed since Kid Flash and Robin agreed with him whole-heartedly. They all went to contact their mentors by their own communications device only to realize that they weren’t getting any signal of sorts.

“No signal,” Robin said aloud. It was very rare that her comms had no signal, the only chances were that this place had machines that jam the signals to stay off the radar. They were facing someone who wasn’t new to these kinds of things. The thirteen-year-old started to doubt whether or not she should have given the idea of going here in the first place.

“We’re too deep, literally,” Kid Flash tried to lighten the mood knowing full well what his best friend was thinking. When he saw her lips turn up a bit, he wanted to air punch in joy. Wally - 1, Unknown villain - … maybe more than one but that doesn’t matter right now.

Kid Flash saw the look that Aqualad gave him and quickly turned to look at the clone once more. “This is wrong.”

“We can’t leave him like this,” Robin agreed with him. “Plus he kinda looks cute.”  
Kid Flash turned to her, confused. She only shrugged back and let out a sheepish smile. “What? I didn’t say he’s my type. I bet a lot of girls in my school would go fawning over him.”

Kid Flash nodded but was still weirded out by what the Girl Wonder said.

Aqualad, who was contemplating what to do, turned to look at said Girl Wonder. “Set him free.”

Quickly following what he said, she pulled up the controls and just like that, the glass encasing opened. But before they could comprehend what was going on, the genomorphs’ horns grew red and the clone’s eyes snapped open.

Aqualad, who saw all this, was suddenly on edge. None of them were able to react in time before the clone threw himself at Aqualad. The clone started to punch the Atlantean in the face while the hero couldn’t push the clone off him.

Finally wrapping their heads around what just happened, Kid Flash and Robin went to help their fellow protege with Kid Flash holding the clone’s hands back and Robin covering the clone’s eyes.

“Whoa! Hang on Supey! We’re on your side!” Kid Flash yelled, using all his might to hold they super’s hand back. But without warning, the clone withdrew the arm that Kid Flash was holding and quickly punched the speedster straight in the face, sending him flying and landing harshly on the ground, unconscious.

After seeing her best friend knocked out, Robin quickly drew out a vile of knock out gas and planted it on the clone’s throat, knowing that it would only distract him but that was all the time Aqualad needed to get his bearings and kick the super straight in the chest and thanks to his Atlantean strength, send the clone flying and landing on the ground a few feet away.

Quickly drawing out her taser gun, Robin aimed it at the clone while he was busy coughing from the smoke of working it should have, it had no effect to the clone at all meaning that he was more Kryptonian than she thought he was. Before she could let the taser gun go, the clone quickly took hold of the wire of the taser gun and pulled, pulling Robin towards him.

The Girl Wonder screamed in shock and was quickly thrown to the ground. Before she could get up though, the clone planted his foot on her chest making her scream in pain and making it hard for her to breath. She definitely felt a few of her ribs crack under the pressure.

Aqualad, who was struggling to get past the headache of being tackled to the ground, realized what the clone was doing and quickly ran to help. Getting his water bearers, he made it form into a huge hammer and swung with all his strength to get the clone off the younger girl. When the clone landed harshly on his pod, the Atlantean quickly went to help Robin who was gasping in pain and promptly passed out.

Now angered, Aqualad stood up to face the clone.

“We are trying to help you!” he tried to reason only to have to clone try to punch him. He quickly moved to the side and tackled the clone. Before he can punch the clone in the face, said clone blocked the punch and kicked the Atlantean off him. They both started sparring with Aqualad trying to electrocute the clone to no avail. Using his powers, the clone jumped all the way to the ceiling, making Aqualad hit his head once more, successfully knocking him out.

The clone stared at the fallen heroes in the room until the doors opened and a scientist known as Dr. Desmond entered the room and placed his hand on the clone’s shoulder.

“Atta boy.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken now!”

The three heroes simultaneously woke with a gasp. After her years in training and dealing with the villain in Gotham, Robin quickly accessed her situation. All three of them were being held in pods that were very similar to the pod where the clone was kept in. Their arms suspended on top of their heads and feets dangling, the cuffs on their wrists keeping them suspended from touching the bottom of the pod. So in short, definitely something not good for her broken ribs.

Standing in front of their tubes, was the clone. None of them dared to talk and just seemed to start a staring contest. After a few minutes of just staring at each other, Kid Flash had enough. 

“What? What do you want?” he grumbled but when he seemed to get no reply, he just got more aggravated. “Quit staring, You’re creeping me out.”

“Uh, KF. How about we not tick the guy who can fry us with a look?” the Girl Wonder joked aloud though she wasn’t sure if the clone in front of them won’t do what she said. She winced slightly at the pain from her ribs but quickly hid it but wasn’t fast enough since Kid Flash saw the momentary flash of pain. 

“We only sought to help you,” Aqualad told the clone. 

“Yeah,” the speedster said, his voice laced with anger. He already broke one of his promises now he wasn’t able to keep the other. “We help you and you turn against us! How’s that for grat-”

“Kid, please. Be quiet now,” the Atlantean cut him off before he can make things worse. “I believe our new friend is not in full control of his actions.”

Great, Robin thought. Would it be wise to bring him to the League if he could still be under the control of Cadmus? How would we even know if he is under their control completely or just did it on a whim? How would we know when to trust him?

“What– What if– What if I wasn’t?” the clone stuttered, finally speaking up for the first time. 

For someone who’s never used his vocal chord before, he did damn well in his first time speaking, guess those genomorphs did force feed him some things. But at the same time, he did get the hang of some of his powers a while ago despite being in his pod the whole time since his creation. But that wasn’t the time to think about it, quickly bringing out her pick lock and started to pick her way through her handcuffs. Hopefully, this place was high-tech enough to make the cuffs linked to each other. 

“He can talk?” Kid Flash asked aloud. Robin rolled her eyes under her mask and would have laughed aloud at her best friend. 

“Yes, he can,” the clone said stiffly, glaring a bit at the redhead. Both she and Aqualad turned to stare at the other hero in exaggeration. 

“Not like I said ‘it’,” he defended himself. 

“The genomorphs taught you telepathically,” Aqualad remembered what Robin had said earlier. 

“They taught me much,” the clone agreed. “I can read, write, know the name of things.”

“But have you seen them? Have they ever actually let you see the sky or the sun?” Robin asked. 

“Images are implanted in my mind, but no. I have not seen them,” the clone disagreed. 

“Do you know what you are— who you are?” Aqualad asked the clone. 

“I am the Superboy, a genomorph, a clone made from The DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should He perish, to destroy him should he turn from the light,” the clone answered like it was implanted in his brain.

The heroes exchanged looks with each other. Aqualad decided to speak up on their behalf knowing what they were also thinking.

“To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman, you deserve a life of your own beyond that Solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus.”

“I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!” the clone defended. 

“Your home is a test tube,” Robin pointed out. “We can show you the sun.”

“Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon,” Kid Flash corrected. 

“We can show you, introduce you to Superman,” Aqualad said, looking at Superboy straight in the eyes. But before the clone could give his answer, Dr. Desmond came in followed by Guardian and the female scientist Kid Flash knocked down earlier.

“No, they can’t,” the scientist said. “They'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process.”

“Pass! Batcave's crowded enough,” Robin joked.

He ignored her and went beside the other scientist to look over her work only to notice that Superboy wasn’t in his pod. “And get the weapon back in its pod!” 

“Hey. How come he gets to call Supey an ‘it’?” Kid Flash said aloud.

Before Guardian could lead Superboy away, Aqualad stared at the clone’s eyes once more. “Help us.”

Superboy seemed to pause at his words but was momentarily cut off again by Dr. Desmond and the small genormorph jumping onto his shoulder. “Don't start thinking now. See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me! Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!”

As Superboy walked out, under the control of the genomorph on his shoulder, two long mechanical arms that had four needles connected to the end of them rose from the base of the pod and implanted themselves on the heroes’ chests, electrocuting them while drawing out their blood. The heroes screamed in pain but thanks to his Atlantean skin, Aqualad wasn’t experiencing as much pain. 

“Where's Dubbilex?” he heard Dr. Desmond ask. “Ooh! Lurking as usual. Get the g-gnomes downloading their memories. When that's done and when you're sure the clones are Viable, delete the source material.”

Hoping that Superboy has superhearing, the Atlantean started to whisper under his breath. “Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon or a person, the choice is yours, but ask yourself, ‘what would Superman do?’”

He thought for the worst since nothing happened but all of the sudden Superboy came broke through the door, making the machines malfunction, the arms that were electrocuting the heroes shutting down. 

“I told you to get back to your--”

Superboy quickly cut off the head scientist by throwing him and the other scientist and Guardian to the side. “Don't give me orders.”

The three heroes were catching their breath as Superboy turned to them. 

“You here to help us or fry us?” Kid Flash asked, finally catching his breath.

“Huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose Helping is my only option,” Superboy joked around. 

Robin, who finally got her bearing with her, finally got through the lock to her cuffs, both of them opening and making her fall on the ground, her pod automatically opening. 

“Ahh. Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long,” she panted. 

“Seriously, that's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight,” Kid Flash asked incredulously. 

“Free Aqualad. I'll get kid mouth,” she told the clone as she ran to pick the lock off the speedster. 

“Don't you give me orders either,” Superboy said but did as he was told. 

When he ripped off the cuffs holding down the Atlantean, Superboy had to help Aqualad stand. 

“Thank you,” the Atlantean said to the clone. 

The group of heroes then turned to run out the door as Dr. Desmond was waking up. 

“You– you'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!” the scientist yelled from the floor. 

Robin then remembered that their blood was drawn from them and swiftly pulled out three explosive birdarangs and threw them to each of the glass orbs containing their blood. “That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all.”

“What is it with you and this whelmed thing?” her best friend asked as he waited for her. She just ignored him and ran out of the room, following Superboy and Aqualad. The speedster fondly shook his head and sped out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just want to clarify that I will be updating this book and all my others at least every month. No promises on updating more than once a month but if there will be... surprise? or that could also mean I finished writing the book and decided to update it more or maybe cause I already wrote too much and want to update more often but if that were to happen, I'll definitely say! 'Til next time!


	10. Chapter 10

“We are still 42 levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator,” Aqualad reminded them as they ran through the hallways, the elevator clear of sight when the huge elephant-sized genomorphs from earlier seemed to sprout from the walls, completely blocking their way out. 

They skidded to a stop, unsure what to do and how to take them down only to hear some noises behind them. They turned to see more genomorphs of different sizes growing in the walls and walked out, successfully having them surrounded. 

One of the huge genomorphs blocking their way to the elevator was about to smash them but the four of them quickly jumped out of the way. Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash ran at the huge genomorphs ready to evade when Superboy ran and punched the genomorph that was about to smash them earlier straight at the jaw, making it land flat on its back. He saw another arm swinging towards him but was too late to avoid it and was pinned to the ground, the genomorph keeping his arm on him. 

Kid Flash zoomed on the side of the wall, dashing past the last genomorph blocking the elevator with Aqualad and Robin jumping on top of the genomorph to throw it off. They turned, expecting Superboy to follow their lead but only saw him attacking the herd of genomorphs. Superboy kept punching one the genomorphs into the wall, making the ceiling unstable and start to crumble bits. 

Fearing that Superboy didn’t have some sense of control and won’t stop, Aqualad yelled at the clone. “Superboy, the goal is to escape, not to bury ourselves here!”

That didn’t seem like the right thing to say or do since Superboy was angry, The clone turned to him and yelled back at the Atlantian. “You want escape?!”

All of a sudden Superboy grabbed the arm of one of the unconscious genomorph and throwing it across the hallway, knocking back the other genomorphs and blocking any genomorphs to come any further. 

Quickly running to the elevator, Aqualad didn’t wait for Robin to say anything and ripped open the elevator doors, the elevator nowhere in sight. Kid Flash jumped onto the ledge of the elevator shaft, waiting for Robin to pull out her grappling gun and jumping along with her, stopping onto the ledge that said that they were on sub-level 15. 

Superboy had to grab onto Aqualad and jumped off the ledge narrowing dodging a genomorph but when they started to fall again, Superboy was shocked. 

“I– I'm falling,” the clone said in shock.

Robin quickly drew a batarang she thankfully picked up by accident while grabbing some birdarangs earlier and threw it. Aqualad grabbing it and holding onto the shocked clone. “Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?” he heard the clone muttering to himself.

“Don't know, but it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool,” Kid Flash tried to cheer up the clone and helping him down on the ledge. 

The clone turned to Aqualad, still confused but definitely more calmed down now. 

“Thank you,” Superboy said.

A quiet rumble from above and started to grow louder made Robin looked up only to see the elevator was coming down from.

“Guys!” she yelled over the noise. “This will have to be our exit!”

Both Aqualad and Superboy used their super strength to punch the elevator doors open, quickly rushing onto the floor with Kid Flash and Robin, the elevator passing without a second to spare. But they didn’t have time to recover when more genomorphs came from the end of the hallway making the team of heroes turn to the left. They didn’t really know where they were going until Superboy started to yell where they have to go.

“Go left! Left! Right!”

They followed him, hoping that he knew the exits and structure only to come across a dead end.

“Great directions, Supey. You trying to get us repodded?” Kid Flash yelled at the clone who only stood there dumbstruck. 

“No. I don't understand,” the clone said almost to himself.

However, Robin seemed too enthusiastic looking at the dead end. “Don't apologize. This is perfect!”

Turning to stare at what the Girl Wonder was looking at, the three males saw a ventilation shaft. Quickly realizing what she meant, Kid Flash helped her gain enough height to remove the lid and crawl in, helping him inside. Following the two, Aqualad and Superboy followed. 

“At this rate, we'll never get out,” Kid Flash complained when Superboy started to hear something.

“Shh. Listen.”

The heroes stopped only to hear the rushing sounds of genomorphs in the ventilation system, following them. Quickly finding the nearest way out, they stopped in the hallway as Robin started to do something on her holo-glove.

Thanks to his super hearing, Superboy was able to hear Dr. Desmond despite him not being in the ventilation system meaning that he was near an opening of one.

“Someone--Robin, I'd wager--hacked our systems, Deactivating internal security cameras, but she neglected The motion sensors. The genomorphs are closing in. They're all coming out in here. We have them cornered,” he suddenly let out a scream as several genomorphs came out of the vents, tackling him. Suddenly realizing what happened, he whispered it under his breath. “She hacked the motion sensors.”

“I hacked the motion sensors,” Robin suddenly said, her voice smug.

“Sweet!” Kid Flash yelled. “Still plenty of them between us and out but I've finally got room to move.”

He wore his goggles and ran to the emergency exit and started to run up the many stairs. He had no warning when a group of genomorphs appeared from the top floors, running towards him. He didn't stop and only ran forward, shoving the genomorphs to the side not letting them have time to react. The rest of the heroes following him, running as fast as they can. 

After passing the knocked down genomorphs, Robin pulled out her holo-glove and started to check the motion sensors of the emergency exit. When she saw more red dots racing up the stairs behind them. 

“More behind us,” she mentioned to the rest. Superboy let her and Aqualad run ahead of him and when they were at a safe distance, he stomped on the end of the staircase behind them, breaking it, effectively cutting off the genomorphs chasing them. 

Reaching the end of the emergency exit, Kid Flash zoomed to the left when the lights blared red and the alarm started blaring. He sped up as he noticed that two large metal doors started to shut close, cutting them off from the rest of the hallway but he wasn’t fast enough and crashed onto the metal doors. 

“We're cut off from the street,” Aqualad said as he, Robin, and Superboy reached Kid Flash. Both the Atlantian and clone tried to open the doors by force but no matter what they did, the doors were closed shut. 

“Thanks. My head hadn’t noticed,” Kid Flash said sarcastically as he rubbed he head. 

“Can't hack this fast enough,” Robin informed them as the genomorphs finally reached their floor. She quickly saw a door to their right and quickly kicked it down. “This way!”

They quickly ran through the hallway only to see Guardian with an army of genomorphs waiting for them and the ones from earlier coming to them, surrounding them completely. Before they could react, a huge wave of drowsiness washed upon them, knocking out Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash crashing to the floor while Superboy landed on his knees, unable to get up.

Dubbilex came out from behind the large genomorphs. There was a tense feeling in the air as Superboy and Dubbilex were having a telepathic conversation. It was a few moments later when the fog shrouding their brain was lifted. The three proteges rubbed their heads and looked at the scene before them.

The small genomorph on Guardian’s shoulder jumped off, releasing its hold on the older’s mind.

“Feels like fog lifting,” Guardian groaned as he rubbed his head. 

Standing up on his feet, Aqualad looked at the older. “Guardian?”

The former hero remembering what had been done to him felt determined to let them out of here and deal with the scientist. “Go. I'll deal with Desmond.”

“I think not.”

The group of genomorphs turned to reveal Dr. Desmond standing there, hand in his pocket clutching something they couldn’t see. “Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order To Cadmus.”

The scientist then brought out a vial of blue liquid and drank it in one swell swoop. Groaning in pain, the scientist collapsed on the ground. He seemed like he was growing, his clothes tearing apart. His skin started to peel off, revealing a blue layer of skin yet at the same time muscles. Kid Flash gagged at the side while Robin covered her mouth in disgust. Dr. Desmond was not even recognizable anymore. 

“Everyone back!” Guardian said, edging the superheroes behind him, blocking them from who used to be Desmond but the attempt was futile cause he was quickly knocked to the side, knocked out. The group of heroes stared in shock at how fast the former hero was knocked down and how strong Desmond had become. 

Superboy launched himself at the scientist, punching him square in the face but he didn’t seem like it bothered him at all as he quickly punched the clone back. They continued to punch at each other when Desmond managed to hit Superboy to the side, and the clone launching himself again at the beast but Desmond jumped at the clone before Superboy could land on the ground. The two of them, crashing through the ceiling, all the way to the top. 

“Ok. That's one way to bust through the ceiling,” Kid Flash said as he stared at the crater. “You think lab coat planned that?”

Grabbing her grappling hook from her utility belt, Robin launched it on one of the pillars she could see from the top. Before she went to grapple herself, she turned to look at the redhead speedster. Getting the signal, Kid Flash held onto the Girl Wonder as she grappled her and the speedster to where Superboy and Desmond were fighting it out. 

“I doubt he is planning anything anymore,” Aqualad answered earnestly. He then jumped up using his Atlantian strength, ready to join the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! This episode is almost over!!! Wah! I haven't written that far off yet so don't expect any new chapters this month ;-;


	11. Chapter 11

When Aqualad landed on the ground floor, he saw the monster— who was once Dr. Desmond, get punched in the face by Superboy. Both Kid Flash and Robin were watching the two fight it out. When Superboy jumped to get another punch, the monster grabbed the clone’s legs and swung him to the side, making him hit Aqualad. The two knocked down supers stayed down for a while and was helped up by Kid Flash and Robin with Kid Flash helping Aqualad and Robin helping Superboy. 

The monster roared and the four heroes stood there, watching him waiting for the first move. The two sides seem to just stare at each other when the monster charged. They had no time to talk with one another about a plan. Kid Flash zoomed ahead and slid under the monster’s legs, almost getting punched in the process. When the monster turned to look at the speedster, it had barely any time to dodge to punch of both Superboy and Aqualad. It quickly loss its balance and since Kid Flash was still there on the ground, the monster fell on the ground with a loud thud. 

“Learned that one in kindergarten,” the speedster said cheekily. 

Before the monster could get up, the Girl Wonder came leaping over the speedster, throwing two birdarangs at it. But it didn’t seem like it penetrated the skin or even phased the monster since it just hit it off course with its arm. It was about to get back up when Superboy came. Seeing the chance, the monster tackled the clone into one of the pillars holding the place up. 

The clone threw two punches straight at the face of the monster but it didn’t have much effect and the monster only punched him harder into the pillar. The monster was reeling its hand back for another punch when Aqualad intervened. 

Using his water-bearers, the Atlantean used it like a whip and wrapped it around the monster’s arm. Pulling himself, Aqualad kicked the monster in the face and swiftly changed the whip to a mace. He swung down but the monster grabbed the mace and threw Aqualad to the ground. The monster then threw Superboy into another pillar, making it crack and break a bit, some of it landing on the clone when he fell on the ground. 

Aqualad, who was groaning on the floor, looked up only to see a foot was swinging down towards his head. The Atlantean barely had anytime and quickly moved to the side, the foot barely missing him. But the Atlantean was getting to his feet, the monster grabbed Kid Flash, who was running straight at it, and threw the speedster right at Aqualad, making them hit the pillars hard. But before Aqualad even had a chance, the monster grabbed him by the neck and started punching the Atlantean into the pillar, each punch making the whole room shake. 

Robin, who was thinking of a plan in the sidelines, realized this and thought of a mission that she went with Red Hood and Nightwing. “Of course,” she said in realization.

“KF! Get over here!” the Girl Wonder yelled as she brought up a holo-screen, making it a 3-D blueprint of the room they were in. Taking note of the pillars that were already broken by the monster, Robin started doing calculations in her head and showed Kid Flash the pillar he had to break. “Got it?”

“Got it!” Kid Flash said as he ran away. He ran to the monster who was going to throw the clone and launched himself at the monster. Grabbing the few skin that was on the monster, Kid Flash held it. “Got your nose!”

As the monster was distracted with Kid Flash, Robin called out Superboy and Aqualad. 

“Come and get me, you incredible bulk!” Kid Flash yelled at the monster, narrowly dodging a punch but was hit at the back with a piece of debris from the pillar the monster punched out. 

“This one and that one,” Robin pointed to the two supers. Both of them quickly breaking down the two pillars that she pointed to. She quickly pulled out the chalk she kept in her utility belt and drew a huge ‘X’ on the ground. Using his water-bearers, Aqualad covered the ground with water. 

Kid Flash was leading the monster directly onto the floor that the others laid out. When the monster was standing right on top of it, Superboy quickly punched the monster to the ground. Hoping that the skin wasn’t that thick, Aqualad used his powers to electrify the water, making the monster roar in pain. 

“Move!” Robin yelled. 

Trying to run out of the building, the heroes heard the loud explosions of Robin’s birdarangs, breaking the last few pillars supporting the building. The building started collapsing in on itself, burying the monster right in the center of it all. Realizing that they weren’t going to make it out in time, Superboy and Aqualad tackled Kid Flash and Robin to the ground, their superpowers and thick skin shielding the two from most of the impact of the falling building. 

When it was all over, Superboy punched the debris on top of them off. Getting up from the floor, the heroes smiled to themselves. 

“We did it,” Aqualad smiled, looking at the younger two. 

Kid Flash and Robin had equally as large smiles on their face, both panting really hard. 

“Was there ever any doubt?” Robin asked cheekily. She smiled to her best friend and they both high fived but both recoiled, grabbing their ribs in pain. 

Looking over the fallen monster, the heroes looked up and noticed that it was night. But as they were looking at the moon, they noticed someone flying to them.

“See? The moon. Oh. And Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?” Kid Flash said, sounding smug. 

But as Superman was landing, more Leaguers started following, Robin even made out her brothers in the bunch. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Batman asked as the Man of Steel stared at Superboy. 

He doesn't like being called an it,” Kid Flash whisper-yelled to the Dark Crusader.  
“I'm Superman's clone,” Superboy yelled angrily. 

The other heroes stared wide-eyed at the clone.

“Start talking,” Batman ordered. 

~~~~~~

“Well, uh—we'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now, I'd better make sure they get that Blockbuster Creature squared away,” Superman said to the four teens after getting a nudge from Martian Manhunter. Without waiting for any reply, the Man of Steel flew away. 

“Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels, but let's make one thing clear–”

“You should have called!” Flash yelled, cutting off Batman.

“End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct Orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again,” Batman said, his voice final. 

The group of teens stared at him until Aqualad spoke up. 

“I am sorry, but we will,” Aqualad said, looking at the Caped Crusader straight in the eyes. 

Robin and her brothers stared at shock at the Atlantean for standing up and defying Batman but their father remained still and unphased. 

“Aqualad, stand down,” Aquaman said. 

“Apologies, my king, but no. We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together on our own, we forged something powerful, important,” Aqualad said, edging on. 

“If this is about your treatment at the hall, The 3 of you--”

“The 4 of us, and it's not,” Kid Flash said, cutting off his mentor. 

“Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us, or why teach us at all?” Robin asked her father, finally getting the courage to go against her father. 

Superboy didn’t seem to want to get a response from the heroes, obviously fed up with them. “Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way.”

The four teens stared at the Caped Crusader, waiting for their response as the other remaining heroes waited to listen to what Batman had to say. 

~~~~

“This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again. Since you 4 are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be Your supervisor. Black canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions,” Batman informed the group of teenagers as they walked through the halls of Mount Justice. 

It was four days after their stunt in Cadmus and Batman finally made his decision. 

“Real missions?” Robin asked. 

“Yes, but covert,” her father answered. 

“The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests,” Flash joked. 

“But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly,” Aquaman told the teens. 

“The 5 of you will be that team,” Batman said. 

“Cool! Wait, 5?” Robin asked, confused. 

Batman looked to one of the zeta-tubes as Martian Manhunter came through with a female martian. 

“This is the Martian Manhunter's niece Miss Martian,” Batman introduced.

“Hi,” Miss Martian waved, smiling at the other teens. 

“Liking this gig more every minute. Welcome aboard. I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names,” Kid Flash flirted with the martian. 

“I'm honored to be included,” Miss Martian smiled at them.

“Hey, Superboy! Come meet miss M,” Robin said to the clone who was just standing in the sidelines. 

The clone reluctantly joined them and it was quiet at first, none of them knowing what to say.

“I like your t-shirt,” Miss Martian suddenly said talking about the black shirt and red Superman logo of Superboy. The clone let out a small smile.

“Today is the day,” Aqualad said smiling at the team that they formed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Finally, episode 1 is done! Next chapter is not that long so sorry in advance


	12. Chapter 12

It was a quiet day in the manor, it was the day right after the three proteges broke into Cadmus and found Superboy. After the whole fiasco last night, Batman told them that he would say his final decision in three days but ever since they went home, they thoroughly ignored the thirteen-year-old. It didn’t really bother her too much last night since Alfred was busy reprimanding her as he and Dr. Leslie treated her wounds.

Seeing that her brothers still didn’t want to approach her, the thirteen-year-old found herself texting Wally, asking how things were on his end. Since Superboy didn’t have a place to stay yet, the clone was staying over at the redhead’s house. Wally was just telling her how he and Superboy are going to go to the mall after being sent a credit card from her father– or to be more exact, Batman. She bid the redhead farewell when she heard a knock from her door. 

“Come in!” she yelled. Ever since her father came in on her changing, the quick silent rule in the manor was established– knock before you enter. 

The door opened and Tim stepped into the room. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Dixie said, equally as awkward. She sat up straighter and placed her phone aside. 

The two of them stared at each other, not knowing what to say to the other. 

“So, what brings you here to my room oh dear brother of mine?” Dixie asked sarcastically. 

Tim sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, so…”

Seeing her second oldest brother like that made her realize why he was here despite coming to her room in her in the first place. 

“You lost the draw lots huh?” she asked nonchalantly. 

Tim chuckled nervously. “Yeah,” the older confessed. 

“Well if you guys want to talk to me, I suggest telling me when all of you are there, I know they’re standing out in the hallway, listening in on us,” Dixie said angrily, making sure that her brothers outside could hear her. She suddenly stood up from her bed and grabbed her wallet and phone. 

“Where are you going?” Tim called out to her as she stomped out of the room, ignoring her other brothers who were in the hallway. 

“Going out! If any of you were there during breakfast, you would know that I have something to do!” she yelled, not bothering to look back at her brother. She continued to storm down the stairs of the manor. 

Alfred was cleaning the dust off the mantle of the fireplace when he saw the fuming thirteen-year-old. 

“I take it your brothers used the sacrificial lamb tactic?” Alfred asked the young girl. 

Dixie sighed, not wanting to get mad at the butler. “Yeah, they thought that they can fix all this by just sending one to represent them.”

“Do you need a ride, Miss Rachelle?” Alfred asked, his eyes sparkling with humor but still stoic as ever. 

“No thanks, Alfred,” Dixie declined. “Thanks for the offer though, I think I would prefer to walk going there. I’ll be going off now.”

“Dinner will be at six pm,” the butler reminded her as she walked out the door. He was only responded by a small smile and wave as she closed the front doors. The butler sighed to himself and continued what he was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for uploading late! It's been very stressful lately since I've started studying for CETS and just took the one for my dream school... yay... I'll try to update on time but... no promises :(( Sorry that this update was short, just wanted to show that there's a rift and tension between Dixie and her family after the CADMUS incident


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Just to make up for posting late last time, I decided to post early! And just to inform you guys, yes, as the story progresses, I'll ask you, the readers, to vote for some ships and what some of the characters should do next but the story is still too new in my opinion so the voting would have to wait! I'll be taking into account votes from both my Wattpad and here in Ao3! See you guys next month!

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Wally yelled out, hitting the buttons of his controller more frantically now. Both the speedster and acrobat were playing some Smash Brothers Ultimate in Mount Justice. With both of them out of uniform but Robin still wearing her signature sunglasses. 

“What do you mean? How could I cheat?” Robin laughed. 

“I don’t know! You probably hacked the game and made the items drop in favor of you, that was like, what? You’re fifth smash ball? How come it always breaks when you’re the last one to hit it?!” the speedster exclaimed. 

Robin just laughed at her best friend. “Maybe because it will only give it to you when your the one who breaks it.”

The redhead just sighed in exasperation when the round ended. “Oh yeah,” Wally said all of the sudden. “It’s almost been a month since the whole CADMUS incident, how are things at home? Everything good?”

It was Robin’s turn to sigh. “Everything’s fine but I still haven’t talked to Batman or my brothers yet. We’ve been dancing around each other and Bats and I haven’t had any patrols lately,” the girl sighed. “I don’t really wanna talk about this Wally.”

“Oh,” Wally said, looking a bit dejected but smiled softly at her. “It’s okay, I understand. The first few days with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris was awkward but we eventually talked it out.”

It was quiet for a moment between the two, the mood now somber, both of them not wanting to continue their game. 

“How was your day at the orphanage by the way?” Wally asked after a minute or so.

Robin smiled a bit at the change of topic. “It was fine, I had fun and I’m definitely starting to know the kids a bit more,” Robin answered. 

Before the speedster could ask more, both M’gann and Kaldur walked into the living room. 

“Orphanage? What were you doing in the orphanage?” M’gann asked the acrobat. When the martian saw the look of panic on the speedster’s face she realized that she was intruding in their conversation. “Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t realize that it was wrong for me to ask.”

Robin shrugged it off, not looking offended. “It’s okay, no harm, no foul. I started helping out at one of the local orphanages around Gotham.”

“It’s been almost a month since I started but I think it would be great if you guys join as well,” Robin asked. “I could just start wearing my glasses around you guys if ever you come to visit. Besides, the kids there don’t really call me by my real name, they prefer nicknames.”

“What of the superpower ban in Gotham?” Kaldur asked, sounding a bit intrigued.

“Well it’s not like you guys are going to go there in your costumes,” Robin countered. “Pretty sure as long as you don’t go out wearing your costumes or use your powers, no one would know.”

“Really? That’s great! I would love to help if ever!” M’gann exclaimed excitedly. “I bet we’ll have a fun time watching and playing with the kids there! We could also count this as a team bonding exercise!”

“That’s the spirit, Miss M!” Robin laughed at the martian’s enthusiasm. “You could just tell me when you guys want to come over so I can contact the orphanage.”

“Wait, sorry, random question,” the speedster spoke up. “But where’s Supey?”

“He said he was going to go to Metropolis,” Kaldu answered. “He said he will return before our training session with Black Canary.”

“Oh! I hope his trip goes well!” M’gann clapped happily.

Robin felt her phone vibrate in her pocket but chose to ignore it for now.

“What game are you guys playing?” M’gann asked the acrobat and speedster, looking curious at the television.

“Just some Smash Bros,” Robin answered.

“Yeah, I was just saying to Robin that she most probably hacked the game,” Wally joked.

“You can do that?” M’gann asked, shocked. 

“Ha! She can hack into almost anything!” Wally yelled, a playful grin on his face. “Bats and Red Bat taught her, she could hack into anything.”

“Wow! Can I try to play?” M’gann asked excitedly.

“It might take long to teach you how to play and for you to get the hang of it,” Wally said looking at the clock perched on the wall. 

“We have training in less than 10 minutes so we don’t have much time but we have time to play air hockey, what you say green cheeks?” the speedster suggested as Robin rolled her eyes under her glasses.

“Oh,” M’gann said sadly as she looked at the time as well. “You and Aqualad can play! I’m not that good in air hockey.”

“I’ll go set up the table,” Robin informed. The Girl Wonder stood up and patted her best friend’s shoulder when she passed him. She heard Wally say that he’ll go grab a snack and heard the two other members of the team follow after her. She went to the holo-deck to start up the air hockey just as Wally came back with a banana and once the three of them were invested, Robin stepped aside for a while to check on her phone.

‘I need you to do a favor’

Robin sighed and decided to talk about it later, right now it was her time to feel at ease. 

Just when she was walking back to stand beside the other female member of their small team, the zeta tubes announced Superboy’s arrival

“Hi, Superboy! How was Metropolis?” M’gann asked the clone. 

The martian only received a grunted from the clone as he walked through the air hockey hologram. Both Wally and Robin glanced at each other for a while before shrugging it off. This was probably the reason why her father texted her. 

Just about the clone was about to leave, Black Canary and Martian Manhunter came. 

“Ready for training, everyone?” the female hero asked.

“Black Canary! Uncle J’onn!” M’gann exclaimed as she went to hug her uncle. 

“M’gann,” Martian Manhunter greeted. “I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d see how you were adjusting.”

M’gann blushed and looked down shily. “A few bumps but I’m learning.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Martian Manhunter smiled at her.

Just as Superboy was about to exit the room, Black Canary called out to him.

“Stick around, class is in session,” she said. “I consider it an honor to be your teacher, I’ll throw a lot at you. Everything I’ve learned from my own mentors–” she said but winced as she removed her jacket. “And my own bruises.”

“What happened?” M’gann asked worriedly.

“The job,” Black Canary replied. “Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I need a sparring partner.”

Robin was about to volunteer when Wally raised his hands. 

“Right here!” the speedster said, speeding to the sparring circle, throwing the banana he was eating to the side. “After this, I’ll show you my moves.”

Robin coughed a bit and the redhead turned to look at her for a minute before facing Black Canary again just fast enough to block a punch from her but before he could react again, Black Canary swept his foot, making him fall harshly on the ground. 

The speedster moaned in pain from his spot on the floor. “Hurts so good.”

Robin couldn’t help but laugh at her best friend.

“Good block but did anyone see what he did wrong?” Black Canary asked.

Robin eagerly raised her hand, practically jumping up and down. “He hit on teacher and got served?”

“Dude!” Wally yelled at the laughing acrobat. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Robin sighed as she saw Batman walk away. Nothing hasn’t changed yet, not for her with her family nor for Superboy with Superman. She walked back to her room and changed into some of her casual clothes, placing on her sunglasses. She was just about to tie her hair up when there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, Rob?” Wally knocked. “You still here?” 

“Yup! Just wait a minute!” Robin yelled, quickly gathering her hair in a ponytail. When she finished, the thirteen-year-old opened the door to let her best friend enter. 

“Woah, where you going?” Wally asked as he looked at her outfit, noting that it was different from the green shirt and black jacket that she usually wore as her casual outfits as Robin.

Robin shrugged, walking past the speedster knowing he would follow her. “Bats asked me to speak with someone since he’s busy and the person is thick-headed so he asked me to do it.”

“Ah,” Wally said, understandingly. “So you going there as Rob or..?” 

“Both in a way,” Robin said, stopping in front of one of the Zeta-Tubes. “I gotta go, message you later?”

“You know it,” Wally smiled, waving as the acrobat disappeared.

Robin then found herself exiting a photo booth in Metropolis. Dusting herself, she made her way to Bibbo’s Diner. She looked around inside and when she saw that who she was going to meet wasn’t there yet, she sat down in one of the booths. 

“Thank you,” she said to the waitress who handed her a menu. 

As she was looking through the menu, she felt someone sit across her. She didn’t bother to look up until she called the waitress over, ready to order. 

“Can I have two apple pie? For take out,” Robin ordered. The waitress nodded, jotting down the order and turned to look at the man sitting across from her.

“The devil’s food,” Clark ordered as well. After taking down the order, the waitress left, leaving the two of them alone.

“Something tells me this isn’t about dessert,” Clark joked. 

“No, no it isn’t,” Robin chuckled before the smile on her face disappeared. “He needs you, and you know that don’t you?” 

Clark sighed. “No, he doesn’t. I’m just a reminder of what he’s not.”

Robin shook her head. “No you’re not, you’re the father or at least the mentor he deserves. Sure, Dinah is doing her hardest to train him but you and I both know that she won’t be able to train a Kryptonian.”

When the older didn’t respond, Robin just sighed. “Look, I know that you didn’t ask any of this but please, you and I both know how it feels to be neglected or lost because of who you are or what happened, are you willing to do that to him? He didn’t ask to be made or brought in this world, you could at least talk to him.”

“I- Dinah can handle him, he doesn’t need me to train him,” Clark argued. 

“What would your parents think?” Robin asked. “Please, Uncle Clark, he needs you.”

“I’m sorry Dixie but you know I can’t, not right now,” Clark said, raising his hand to call the waitress.

“Okay, I get it, not now but why not in the future?” Robin pressed. 

“I’ll have that pie to go,” Clark said to the waitress, standing up and went to pay at the counter, leaving Robin to herself.

Robin just sighed and slumped into the chair.


	14. Chapter 14

Dixie ran down the stairs of the manor, tying her hair in a messy bun and tossing her jacket over her shoulders, quickly putting it on. 

“Ready, Miss Rachelle?” Alfred said from the front door. 

“Yep! Thanks, Alfred,” Dixie said running up to the car waiting for her outside. 

“You’re welcome, miss,” Alfred said as he opened the back seat for her. Just as she was about to get in, she paused seeing Jason seating inside. 

“Hey sis,” Jason said, looking over her from his phone.

“What are you doing here?” Dixie asked shocked at the presence of her immediate older sibling. 

“Going out to hang with Roy,” Jason answered, a small grin on his face. “Why? Got any problems with that?”

“No,” Dixie replied with gritted teeth. “No problem at all.”

Jason chuckled as she got in the car, Alfred closing the door behind her and walking up to the driver's seat.

The thirteen-year-old made eye-contact with the butler in the rearview mirror as the older started driving out the gate of the manor. Sighing, she stared out the window, trying to ignore the tension in the air. 

“So,” Jason started. “Where are you going out today?” 

“I was just going to go to my shift at the orphanage,” Dixie replied, still not looking at him. “Why are you suddenly interested?”

Jason raised his hands in the air, a small pout on his lips. “Can’t a brother ask where his little sister’s going?”

Dixie rolled her eyes and sat straighter.

“Hey, Alfred?” Dixie called out to the butler. “Can you drop me off at this block? I see Adrian walking ahead, I can just walk with him going there.”

“Of course, miss,” Alfred said, pulling over. “Have fun today.”

“Thanks, Alf!” Dixie said, getting off the car. “I promise I’ll be home before dinner!”

“What? No goodbye for me?” Jason frowned. He was ignored and Dixie went to call out for a guy walking on the street, the two of them talking for a while before walking away. 

“Do you the guy, Alfred?” Jason asked as his younger sister walked away with the other teen, noting that it was another redhead around her age.

“He is a colleague of the young miss, she met him during her time in the orphanage she is currently helping at,” Alfred said as he drove away. “Will you be dropped off at Star City or the manor?”

“You know me to well Alfred,” Jason said as he realized that Alfred knew he wasn’t going anywhere. “To the manor please.”

“Of course, sir,” Alfred said as they drove back to the manor. 

The ride going back to the manor was silent as Jason pondered over this Adrian person. Time to tell his brothers.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“So why’d you get off your car?” Adrian asked as they entered the orphanage, the kids playing in the playroom.

“Jason was in the car, kinda awkward with my siblings and dad right now,” Dixie shrugged. 

“Ah,” Adrian nodded. “So things still aren’t good at home? What even happened?”

Dixie sighed and opened the door of the playroom. “Just some family stuff really, nothing too big but there was a fight and none of us really got the chance to talk about it afterward.”

“Yikes,” Adrian grimaced. “Well if it makes you feel any better you can always just call me if you need to escape for a while.”

Dixie chuckled. “Thanks, I’ll appreciate that.”

“Rain and Dani are here!” one of the kids yelled when she noticed Dixie and Adrian enter the room. She along with several other kids ran up to the duo. Rain was the nickname given to Adrian after one of the kids spelled his name wrong, making it an inside joke in the orphanage. While Dani was her nickname after one of the two-year-olds thought that was her name.

“Will you come and play with us? Leo’s busy making another robot,” Sasha pouted. Leo was one of the older kids in the orphanage, fourteen-years-old but very smart and talented in anything mechanical. The younger kids enjoyed hanging around him but he would sometimes seclude himself in his room, too invested in his robots. 

“Of course! Who wants to play hide and seek?” Dixie asked, crouching to be at eye level with the five-year-old, Adrian watching their interaction with fond eyes. 

“But you’re too good at that!” Sam, a four-year-old, complained. “You always find us so fast and hide up high!”

“Then what do you suggest we play?” Adrian asked the group of kids. The toddlers looked at each other before smiling cheekily. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“Why’d you call us, Todd? I was busy,” Damian hissed from the door. 

Jason rolled his eyes at his oldest brother as Tim silently took a seat on one of the couches. “Doing what? Talking to your boyfriend? It’s about Dixie.”

“What about her?” Tim asked, suddenly on edge. 

“It’s no secret that she’s been ignoring us since CADMUS but she’s also been going to this orphanage, Alfred says that she’s been helping there for a while,” Jason informed them. 

“And so? What does this have to do with us?” Damian asked, not once moving from the door. 

“She’s been hanging around this guy, the name’s Adrian based on Alfred,” Jason said, getting to the point. “They seem close, like real close. She told Alfred to drop her off cause she’d rather walk with him rather than stay with me in the car.”

 

“Grayson can do what she wants, it’s her life,” Damian scoffed, ready to go out of the room.

“He seems to fancy her.”

The two older brothers stiffened at the declaration. 

 

“What?” Damian hissed. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Dixie and Adrian bid the kids goodnight as they both left the orphanage, both of them needing to get home before their curfew. The two of them walked in silence and when Dixie was about to walk to another direction Adrian called out to her. 

“Hey Dixie,” Adrian said, with a small smile on his face. “The offer still stands okay?”

Dixie smiled at the redhead, “Noted. School starts in a few days, we can always chat then.”

“I’ll hold onto that,” Adrian chuckled. 

The two of them bid each other goodnight and headed their separate ways.


	15. Chapter 15

Dixie zipped up her duffle bag, her change of clothes and bathing suit. Hauling it over her shoulder, she exited her room and walked up to one of the nearest entrances to the Batcave which so happened to be the library. Entering the library she was shocked to see Tim talking with Jason, the younger of the two looking grumpy as always. The two of them stopped what they were talking about and looked at her. Getting over the shocked, she pulled one of the books on a bookshelf for it to click open to reveal a tunnel leading to the cave down below. 

“Where you going, Dix?” Jason called out before she could enter the tunnel. 

Dixie suppressed a groan and turned to look at her two older brothers with a straight face. “The team decided to spend our last few days of freedom before school starts and it just so happens to be that Mount Justice is right beside the beach.”

“Oh,” Jason said, a little disappointment in his voice but Dixie probably just heard wrong. “Have fun.”

“Thanks,” Dixie replied but right before she can close the shelf behind her Tim spoke up. 

“And Dixie, we need to talk,” Tim said with a serious tone. 

“Of course you do,” Dixie said under her breath but was sure her brothers heard it before closing the entrance behind her. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“Hey, Robin! You ready to head for the beach?!” M’gann practically screamed as she flew instantly in front of the thirteen-year-old one she entered the Mountain. 

“Woah, breath, Miss M,” Robin said in slight shock with the Martian’s energy. “Yeah, I have all my things ready, we can just change to our bathing suits and head down to the beach, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” 

“I know, it’s just the first time I’ve ever gone to the beach! Water is so fascinating, we don’t have those on Mars!” M’gann squealed once more but realized she was starting to be loud again. “Oops, sorry,” she smiled sheepishly. 

Robin shook her head with a small amused smile on her face. “It’s okay, just try to keep it down, SB might not be used to his super hearing yet.”

“Of course,” M’gann nodded. The two of them started making their way to the hanger to meet up Superboy and Kaldur. 

“Hey, guys! Ready for the beach cause Miss M here is ecstatic,” Robin joked. 

“We are, indeed, we were just waiting for you and Wally before changing and heading out,” Kaldur answered. 

“Oh, Wally didn’t tell you guys?” Robin asked in mild shock. 

“No, why? What happened?” M’gann asked instantly looking alarmed. 

“It’s nothing big, M’gann,” Robin said, calming the other girl down. “It’s just that it’s his first day of school today, he won’t be out ‘til his classes are over. The only reason why I don’t have school yet is because of the gym and some lockers being destroyed during our last mission.”

“Oh, hello, M’gann!” the Martian slapped her forehead, saying her usual catchphrase. “That’s why he was so down when we suggested it! Oh poor, Wally, I feel bad for leaving him out.”

Robin let out a small cackled and threw one of her arms around M’gann. “Don’t worry, Miss M. I bet he’s doing just fine. Let’s go change and have some fun!”

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Just as Aqualad and Superboy were about to dive into the water for a race that she was excited to watch, Robin heard her communicator beeping in her bag that was left on the sand. Groaning, she walked to her bag as she heard Megan ready to start the race. Pulling the communicator out, she couldn’t help but groan once more.

“Sorry guys, seems like we need to reschedule this race for another time,” Robin said with a slight tone but the others couldn’t figure out why. 

“Did something happen?” Aqualad asked as he got out of the water, followed by the Martian and Kryptonian. 

“You can say that,” Robin mused, pulling her bag over her shoulders. “Bats has a mission for us, we better take a quick shower and meet in the briefing room in 15 minutes. Hopefully, KF is here by then but knowing him, he most probably hasn’t seen the message yet.” 

“Awww,” Megan said sadly. “I was really excited to see the race.”

“Nope, we’re gonna see that race someday, maybe not today but we will,” Robin said cheekily. “Let’s go hurry up now, no time to waste.”

The four of them went to their own room and as Robin felt the door to her room shut behind her, she sighed and threw her glasses to the untouched bed. Dropping her bag on the floor without care, she couldn’t help but think about the arrow that saved Wally on their last mission. Shaking her head, she got onto the task at hand and started a quick shower and once done, changed into her uniform. 

Making sure her mask was securely covering her eyes, she exited her room and made her way to the briefing room. Walking in, she didn’t expect to see her father accompanied by Red Tornado and Green Arrow talking to a blond girl wearing a superhero costume that closely resembled Green Arrow. Noting the bow and quiver filled with arrows strapped on the girl’s back, Robin realized she had the same arrow that they found on their last mission. 

When the four other people in the room failed to acknowledge her presence, she cleared her throat, making the two green-clad heroes jump slightly but Batman still remaining stoic as ever. 

“So, who wants to explain what’s going on?” Robin asked as she walked up to her spot on the briefing room. 

“Robin,” Green Arrow started, giving Batman and Red Tornado a slide glance before turning to look at the girl beside him. “We just got intel from Speedy about a potential threat and we think it would be right to send the Team.”

“Okay,” Robin dragged out, eyeing the teenage girl beside the elder. “So is your niece here joining us?” 

Both Green Arrow and the girl tensed at that but the Girl Wonder remained calm and still had the air of ignorance around her.

“Yeah,” Green Arrow answered cautiously, knowing full well that Robin knew or at least had an idea who Artemis was. “This is my niece, Artemis. She’s an archer and Batman talked about letting her join the team.”

Robin nodded as she heard the other three members of the Team join her. She was sure that they heard her conversation with the senior hero, playing to the script. “Well I guess, welcome to the Team, Artemis but trust me, you just signed yourself on a one-time contract.”

Artemis chuckled but it was obvious that she felt tense and awkward at first.

Just as Green Arrow was about to say something once more, the Zeta-Beam announce the entrance of Kid Flash. 

“The Wall-Man is here! Now let get this party star-,” Wally yelled as he tripped and crashed onto the floor with all the things he brought to the beach. “-ted.”

Robin couldn’t help but let out a genuine laugh at seeing her best friend crash onto the ground with all the things he brought, in his swim trunks nonetheless. Figures he didn’t see the message at all.

The redhead looked up, groaning in pain to only be greeted by the sight of Artemis, the blond having a smug look on her face, completely different from how tense she was earlier. 

“Wall-Man huh? I love the uniform,” Artemis teased. “What exactly are your powers?”

Slightly ticked off with her attitude, Wally turned to look at his best friend than to the two grown adults in the room. “Uh, who’s this?” 

“Artemis, you’re new teammate,” Green Arrow answered.

“Kid Flash,” Wally said as he started dusting himself as he stood up. “Never heard of you.”

Green Arrow gave another side glance at the two bats but answered awkwardly. “Um, she’s my new protege.”

“What happened to your old one?” Wally said, angrily.

Just as he said that the Zeta-Beam announce the arrival of the said archer.

“Well, for starters, he doesn’t go by Speedy anymore,” Roy grumbled as he entered. “Call me Red Arrow.”

“Roy,” Green Arrow yelped. “You look–”

“Replaceable,” Roy cut off his former mentor as he looked at Artemis. 

“It’s not like that,” Green Arrow said, his voice tense. “You told me you were going solo.”

“So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?” Red Arrow argued.

Seeing the blond walk angrily between the two, Robin internally sighed knowing how well this was going to turn out. 

“Yes, she can,” Artemis said, looking at Roy in the eye. 

“Who are you?” Wally asked exasperatedly, obviously ticked off with her attitude. 

“I’m his niece.”

“She’s my niece.”

“Another niece?” Robin asked, knowing full well that she was digging her own grave once more. 

“But she is not your replacement,” Aqualad interjected before things could spiral out of control. “We have always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on archers.” 

“And if we did, you know who we’d pick,” Wally added, looking at the female archer with some distaste.

“Whatever, Baywatch. I’m here to stay,” Artemis glared at the speedster. 

“You came to us for a reason,” Aqualad said, wanting to change the topic to the task at hand. 

“Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette,” Roy said, looking at Robin expectedly.

Realizing he was waiting for her, the Girl Wonder brought up her files on said doctor. “Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City… vanished two weeks ago.”

“Abducted two weeks ago,” Roy corrected. “By the League of Shadows.”

“Woah,” Kid Flash said excitedly. “You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?”

Both the Girl Wonder and Kid Flash looked at each other, both slightly looking forward to the mission.

“I already rescued her,” Roy said, making the two pout when hearing that. “Only one problem. The shadow had already coerced her into making a weapon.”

Bringing up a new slide, the archer showed pictures and data regarding the weapon. “Doc calls it the Fog. Comprised by millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators capable of disintegrating anything in their path, concrete, steel, flesh, bone. But it’s true purpose isn’t mere destruction, it’s theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer and deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows, providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech.”

“Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking. Yeah, sounds likes the Shadows,” Artemis boredly said. 

“Like you know anything about the Shadows,” Wally argued. When he didn’t seem to get the response he wanted, he just yelled, “Who are you?!”

Ignoring the two, Robin rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Roy who was acting like the two weren’t there.

“Roquette’s working on a virus to render the Fog inert,” Roy continued.

“But if the Shadows know she can do that-” Robin said aloud, but being cut of by Roy.

“They’ll target her,” Roy finished. “Right now she’s off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school’s computer lab.”

“You left her alone?” Green Arrow asked shocked. 

“She’s safe for now,” Roy snapped at his former mentor.

“Then let’s you and I keep it that way.”

“You and I?” Roy asked angrily through gritted teeth. “Don’t you wanna take your new protege?”

“You brought this to the team, it’s their mission, which means its her’s now, too,” Green Arrow backed down. 

“Then my jobs done,” Roy stomped off to the Zeta-Tube but as it called him Speedy, he corrected it once more. “That’s Red Arrow, B06. Update.”

And with the flash of light, he was gone.

Wally and Artemis both made eye contact before turning away from each other.

“Team, prepare for your mission, you will depart in five minutes,” Batman ordered before turning back to Green Arrow and Red Tornado.

Robin ignored the brief eye contact she had with her father and turned to look at her best friend, a smile plastered on her face. The rest of the team started making their way to the hanger where the bio-ship was at, Miss Martian talking animatedly to Artemis. 

“You better go change, Walls, I highly doubt you wanna go out like that,” Robin joked. 

“Ha ha,” Wally said before speeding away and coming back in a few seconds notice in his costume in stealth mode. “So how was your time at the beach?”

Robin shrugged as the red head placed an arm around her shoulder. “It was fun, we should do that more often, hopefully when you can go as well. Aqualad and Superboy were about to have a race on who was a faster swimmer when we were called back in for the mission, something you didn’t see in your communicator.”

“Hey! I was at school, okay?” Wally said, knowing that the younger was only joking.

“Excuses,” Robin waved off. “Let’s go join the rest of the team at the hanger, we should leave soon.”

As she and Kid Flash walked out of the room, she felt her father’s eyes trained on the two of them. Ignoring her father’s prying eyes, she exited the room with her best friend, not even turning to look at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is seriously the latest chapter I have so I'm sorry in advance if the next chapter looks rushed or contains more errors (cause I'm pretty sure there are errors in my story) and if it would be uploaded late :(( Merry Christmas in advance!


	16. Chapter 16

After arriving at the location Red Arrow sent them, the team found the doctor working on one of the computers. Quickly addressing that they were sent by the red archer, the doctor reluctantly stopped screaming. Setting up quickly, Aqualad ordered Miss Marian and Superboy to keep watch outside while the rest of them stay in the computer lab where the doctor was working in.

“Miss Martian, link us up,” Aqualad ordered through their com. “We do not want the shadows to intercept our com.”

The martian nodded before setting up the link. ‘Everyone online?’

Artemis shivered and looked at her hands, not able to process the feeling of the mind-link yet. ‘Ohh, this is weird.’

‘And distracting,’ Doctor Roquette snapped, having trouble in sneaking around the system and making the system to overdrive the fog. ‘Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less ram than a wristwatch is hard enough, now I have to hear teen-think in my skull?’

‘Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you’ Wally groaned from where he stood beside Robin who silently agreed with the doctor. 

‘Pot, kettle,’ Artemis said as if she were speaking to a toddler. ‘Have you met?’

Wally glared at the blonde archer, his patience for her deteriorating quickly. ‘Hey, I do not need attitude from the newbie who kicked off Red Arrow from the team.’

‘That is so not on me,’ Artemis glared back. The two of them glared at each other, none of them wanting to back down. 

‘Fate of the world at stake,’ Doctor Roquette groaned as two of her so-called protectors fought right in front of her and distracting her from her task.

‘She started it,’ Kid Flash argued. 

‘How ‘bout I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter,’ Artemis said, wanting to not be in the same room as the ginger.

‘Good idea,’ Aqualad agreed.

When the door behind her closed, Robin looked at her best friend who was still looking pissed off. 

‘You might want to cut her some slack,’ Robin said. ‘It was her arrow that saved your butt against Amazo.’

‘What? No, that was Speedy’s— I mean Red Arrow, right?’ Kid Flash exclaimed, not wanting to believe that the archer was the one who saved him that time.

‘Not so much,’ Robin answered with a smug grin. 

The speedster huffed at her response. ‘Well, still not giving her the satisfaction.’

‘You now I can still hear you,’ Artemis said, reminding the two that she was still part of the mind link

Robin winced while the redhead yelled in frustration.

The doctor rubbed the bridge of her nose, annoyed at her current situation. ‘I couldn’t get the Justice League,’ she grumbled. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“So, things good with you and the new girl?” Robin said as she plopped onto the sofa Wally was sitting on. 

The team just got back from their mission an hour after midnight Aqualad now giving the briefing to Batman and Green Arrow. 

“I still don’t like the idea of her joining the team,” Wally grumbled as he moved to make space for her. 

Robin hummed, understanding where he’s coming from. “Why are you still here by the way?” she asked, only noticing what time it was.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Wally answered, turning to look at her, his eyes soft and worried. “Are you okay? You seem sadder lately, are things still rough at home?”

Robin stared at him, her eyes calculating. She knew her father was waiting for her by the entrance, not letting his presence known and probably waiting for her reply. She sighed, “Yeah, things haven’t really changed much since the whole CADMUS incident. Jason seems to be trying to start conversations with me but I’m not so sure anymore. I’m still mad at them but I just want things to be better now.”

Robin heard the faint footsteps of her father walking away but paid no heed. The two of them sat there in silence, not knowing what to say.

“Well, if it’s getting too overbearing for you, just give me a call, or come over some time, I miss our hangouts,” Wally offered with a small smile. 

Robin smiled at this, “Yeah, I miss it too. Thanks, Wally, I really needed this.”

“No problem, Robs,” Wally said, standing up. “I better head home, don’t want my parents to get mad at me for staying out late again.”

Robin chuckled. “Yeah, I need to get back to Gotham anyways. Call later?”

“Call you later,” Wally agreed before zooming off to the zeta tubes.

Robin was left alone and sighed to herself, not wanting to go just yet. Getting up from the sofa, the thirteen-year-old left the room and started going where she heard her mentor walked off to. 

After a few minutes of walking down the halls, she found him talking to Green Arrow once more, the two of them talking in hush whispers.

“Are we going home yet?” she asked, not bothering if she was intruding their conversation.

“Yes,” Batman said as Green Arrow nodded to her in acknowledgment.

Robin nodded and went through the zeta beam, leaving her father with the archer. As the light of the zeta beam faded, she saw Tim sitting in front of the Bat-computer, typing away while Damian stood beside him, reading what was on the screen. The two of them not acknowledging her presence, both of them too focused on the screen. Not even batting an eye, she just continued to the staircase leading to the elevator when Tim spoke up.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Groaning quietly, she turned to look at her older brothers. “Going up to my room, school does continue tomorrow,” she replied.

“I said we needed to talk,” Tim said as he turned the chair to face her.

“And we will,” she agreed as she peeled off her mask. “Tomorrow, I want to get some sleep.”

She turned and continued to make her way to the exit as she felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from entering the elevator.

“Fine, but tomorrow, we will talk,” Damian said, his voice firm, before joining Tim once more. The zeta beam announcing the arrival of their father.

“Okay,” Dixie said under her breath before entering the elevator, the door shutting closed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for not posting for almost two months now, I've been very stressed and busy and don't get me started on the topic of college. I hope you guys stay safe especially with what's going on lately, I really hope it passes soon. See you guys next time and hopefully, I won't forget to update this time hahahahaha

The car ride going to school was very awkward. With Jason and Dixie being dropped off at school first then Tim being dropped off to his college, the whole car ride was tense with no one saying anything, Alfred occasionally looking at them through the rearview mirror. Dixie couldn’t help but hop out of the car once Alfred stopped in front of their school. Tim was about to speak out when he saw Brendon, the Commissioner’s son and one of Dixie’s best friend, greeting her. The two brothers made eye contact with each other as they watched their younger sister walk away with her friend.

The day went by like a blur for Dixie despite having to start the school year with a gymnastics meeting and student council meeting after school. The thirteen-year-old now found herself in her bedroom with her three older brothers, finally going to discuss what they have been wanting to talk to her about. 

“So, besides the obvious want to talk to me, none of you said what we’re going to talk about,” Dixie said as she busied herself with fixing the items on her desk. Damian was leaning against the wall closest to the door, Jason sitting on the foot of her bed, and Tim silently watching her from the center of the room.

“We’ve been dancing around each other for quite a while now, we need to talk about what happened on Independence, Dixie,” Tim tried to reason. 

“Well it seemed like none of you wanted to talk about it so why should I?” the thirteen-year-old argued back, a bit of anger seeping through her voice, slamming the folder she held on her desk. 

Jason sighed before speaking up and joining the conversation. “Yeah, we know and that’s why we wanna talk about it.”

Dixie remained silent and before placing the folder she was holding onto the side of her desk. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she said in a whisper. “Why did you lie?”

Tim looked at her, guilt in his eyes. “We did it because we thought it was best for you and the others.” 

Just before she could argue with her second eldest’s reasoning, Damian finally spoke up. 

“You’re not ready to be part of the superhero gig,” Damian said bluntly, looking at Dixie whose eyes widened in shock. “You are not capable of fighting out on your own, why do you think you’re only allowed to go on patrol with Batman or at least one of us? You and the others are not yet prepared to even join the League.”

Tim and Jason stared at their older brother in shock and quickly turned to see Dixie whose head was bowed, hands fisted by her side, obviously angry but none of them missed the way her eyes held back tears despite her looking down. 

“Get out,” the youngest said through gritted teeth, her voice filled with anger and hurt as she ordered her brothers to go out of her room. When none of them moved from their spot, she glared at them, as the tears were still being held at bay. “I SAID GET OUT!” 

Damian tsked and left the room without another word with Jason and Tim reluctantly going out of the room as well. 

When she heard the click of the door shutting closed, Dixie angrily swiped the tears out of her eyes before grabbing a duffle bag and stuffing her school uniforms and some other clothes into it and quickly grabbing some other things she might need. 

She zipped up her bag and walked out of her room, ignoring the calls of her brothers as she walked down the staircase of the manor. She saw Alfred walking out of the kitchen, wanting to see what the commotion was about.

“I’m going out tonight Alfred, I’ll be back tomorrow after school, good night,” she said, not bothering to say where she was planning to go. 

She continued walking until she was by the city, no one bothering to stop her. She made a quick turn into one of the alleyways that had a single red telephone booth, entering it while making sure no one was around. The zeta-beam’s light flashing brightly as she was teleported away, leaving the alleyway dark once more.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Wally was just lazing around in his room at his aunt’s house when he heard a knock from the door and his aunt saying that she’ll answer it. 

“Wally! Someone’s here to see you!”

Confused at who was at the door, he walked down the stairs, mindful to not use his powers just in case it was a classmate of his when he saw Robin standing there with a duffle bag slung over her shoulder and her signature glasses on her face. 

“Rob? What are you doing here?” the ginger asked as he led the younger inside. “Why are your eyes red? What happened?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you Aunt Iris but is it okay if Wally and I have a sleepover tonight?” Robin asked, not answering her best friend’s answers just yet.

“Of course, sweetheart,” Iris said, looking shocked at the thirteen-year-old. “You can stay here as long as you like, have you eaten dinner already?”

“Yeah, thank you,” Robin said in gratitude. 

Wally wordlessly led the younger into his bedroom before closing the door shut quietly behind them. Before he can ask more, he felt two arms wrap around him. He quickly returned the hug and led Robin to his bed, sitting down while not breaking the hug just yet.

“I know I’ve been bothering you about having another hangout soon but not like this, you okay?” Wally asked in concern.

The speedster felt the girl nod but didn’t speak about it. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Dami said he thinks I’m not capable enough to be on my own,” the younger spoke up.

“Wait, what?” Wally asked in shock. “Are we talking about the same ‘Dami’? Your overprotective older brother Dami? That Dami?”

“Yeah, my brothers have been wanting to talk to me for a while about the whole CADMUS thing on Independence and when I started getting angry at them, he said that,” Robin explained. 

Wally stayed quiet for a while before speaking up once more. “Well, I don’t know why your brothers did what they did but I do know one thing,” Wally said as he rubbed his arms up and down her back, trying to comfort her. “They care about you. I don’t know why or how them lying to you was a good idea but they have their reasons and I know for a fact that they’ll do anything to protect you and keep you safe, even if it means making you hate them. Damian probably just said that cause he knew you were going to get mad at them cause he would prefer you to be mad at them than feeling hurt because of them. Have you seen the way he treats you? He treats everyone like the plague while he treats you like a princess. He cares for you, Rob, they all do.”

When the younger continued to stay quiet, he knew that he won her over. “I would have asked if you wanted to play some video games or some movies but Aunt Iris would kill me since we both have school tomorrow,” the speedster tried to joke. Robin giggled quietly at this and broke the hug. 

“Thanks, Wally,” she said. “I needed that. I’m sorry for going here without texting you beforehand.”

“It’s fine, wasn’t like I was doing anything anyway,” Wally waved off. “By the way, how are you going to school tomorrow? Your school just started and I highly doubt you’ll skip school.”

“I’ll leave the same time I get up for school, I’ll just take a zeta-beam back to Gotham and walk to school,” Robin explained her plan. 

“You sure? Does anyone know you’re here?” Wally questioned. 

“I told Alfred that I’ll be at school tomorrow so he’ll know to pick me up and I’m pretty sure my brothers saw me leave but no, they don’t know I’m here,” the younger confessed. 

The speedster sighed but nodded, “We should probably prepare to go to bed, I’ll walk you tomorrow to the zeta-beam before I head to school.”

0-0-0-0-0-0

Barry opened the door quietly and saw the two teenagers passed out, the two of them sound asleep. Sighing, he closed the door and saw his wife looking over him worriedly. When Iris texted him earlier about Robin being at their house, asking for a sleepover, confused the speedster to a whole new level but seeing that said teenager was indeed there and sleeping on the floor bed of his nephew’s room, there was no questioning why the thirteen-year-old suddenly showed up to their home asking to stay the night. 

“I need to make a call,” Barry said as his wife nodded, leaving the hallway and entering the room to give him privacy. The blonde pulled out his phone, going through his contacts as he walked down to his living room. 

The phone rang three times before it was picked up. 

“Bruce? Yeah, I need to talk to you… Yeah, she’s sleeping on the floor bed in Wally’s room right now. We need to talk.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very text-heavy so I'm sorry and honestly not proud with this chapter since I think I made them so flat, especially Dixie :(( Hope you guys stay safe and remember to wash your hands!!

Even without her alarm clock, Dixie was still able to wake up at the usual time she woke up for school. Silently sitting up, the thirteen-year-old girl started fixing her things and placing the folded blanket on the pillow she used before grabbing her uniform from her bag and silently heading to the bathroom, the redhead still asleep on his bed. 

As she closed the door, locking it quietly, she started changing into her uniform. She patted the ruffles and folds of her uniform, sighing at her reflection in the mirror. While brushing her teeth, she started brushing her hair to make it neat and perfect as opposed to the messy hair she had as Robin.

Spitting out the toothpaste and quickly rinsing it out of her mouth, she glanced at the girl staring back at her in the mirror.

Shaking her head, she grabbed her things and exited the bathroom to see Wally sitting on his bed, using his phone and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Did I wake you?” Dixie asked as she started keeping her things in her duffle bag. 

The redhead shook his head, “Nah, my alarm did.”

“Oh, okay.”

It was silent for a moment as the two teenagers did their own thing but it wasn’t suffocating in the slightest, more comfortable than awkward.

When Wally stood up from his bed and walked into his bathroom, Dixie finished packing her bag and zipping it but not before taking out her phone. After shutting it off and tossing it into her bag the night before as she left her house in anger, she hasn’t turned it on until now. When it turned on, she saw that she had several miss calls from her father and brothers and the most messages she’s received since the whole CADMUS fiasco. Staring at the messages she received, Wally stepped out of the bathroom.

“Why aren’t you wearing your school uniform?” Dixie asked, slightly shocked to see Wally walkout in casual clothes instead of his school uniform.

“I’ll walk you to the zeta-beam, I still have some time before I actually have to leave for school, even without my powers,” Wally answered.

She was about to turn him down when she realized that he woke up earlier more than he did on a regular day of school. 

“You sure?” Dixie asked and yet grateful as she picked up her duffle bag and backpack.

“Yup,” Wally said as he grabbed his phone on the bedside table and placing it in his pocket before pausing as he was heading to the door. “You need help? I can carry your bags if you want?”  
“Thanks, Wally but I’m fine,” Dixie smiled.

The redhead only nodded, knowing well that he shouldn’t pry too much. Opening the door, he waited for her to leave before following her down the stairs to the living room where the two of them heard Barry talking to Iris in whispers. Noticing the two teenagers, they suddenly kept quiet. 

Not wanting to focus on what the two adults were talking about after their immediate silence, Wally breaks it before it could turn awkward.

“I’m just going to drop Dixie off at the Zeta tube and head back here and prepare for school,” Wally said as he grabbed two bananas, giving one to Dixie as he started eating the other one. 

“It’s alright, bud,” Barry shook his head. “I’ll be the one to walk her, I was going to head to Gotham anyways.”

“Gotham? Why are you heading for Gotham?” Wally asks suspiciously. 

Barry shrugs nonchalantly, “Had a call last night saying that I should head over to Gotham to discuss something.”

Dixie stood there, not knowing when she made eye contact with Iris before deciding to step in. 

“It’s alright Walls, you should prepare for school I probably interrupted you with your homework last night when I just came,” the thirteen-year-old smiled. 

The fifteen-year-old seemed to have an internal argument with himself before giving in. “Fine, but I really don’t mind if you come here unexpected even if I’m asleep, I’ll always welcome you.”

Dixie smiled even wider, “I know.”

Barry grabbed the keys from the counter and kissed Iris on the cheeks, “C’mon, kid, we have quite a walk.”

Dixie nodded and smiled at the two redheads. “Thanks for welcoming me to your home, Aunt Iris.”

“It’s no problem sweetheart, you’re welcome to come over any time,” Iris smiled back. 

Dixie nodded and smiled at Wally before leaving with a wave.

“Call me when you get home after school,” Wally said suddenly as she was about to exit the front door. 

Dixie couldn’t help but laugh and gave a thumbs up before leaving the house. 

Barry stood there waiting for her before taking her duffle bag. “Let me carry that for you, kiddo.” 

Dixie didn’t want to argue with him since he and Iris allowed her to stay over at the night especially since she came unannounced. The thirteen-year-old merely nodded before the two of them started walking to the nearest zeta-beam, the walk quiet even after they used the zeta-beam to Gotham. It was when the two of them were a few minutes away from her school, Barry finally broke the silence between them.

“I called Bruce last night after you and Wally fell asleep,” Barry said but Dixie already knew this without him even having to say it. As far as she knew, there was no reason for him to come over to Gotham unless it had something to do with her father since there wasn’t a crime in Gotham that is connected to a crime in Central City. 

When she didn’t respond, Barry just continued.

“He told me to tell you that there would be a family meeting when you and Jason finish school and when everyone gets home,” the blond added. At the corner of her eye, the speedster saw Dixie’s hand clench by her side and her eyes darken even more. 

That was one thing that he couldn’t help but notice when the thirteen-year-old came last night unexpectantly to his house. Her eyes were dark and lacked the brightness she always had even when she was undercover. Among the years that he’s seen her without her mask, her eyes always had a shine towards them but seeing her eyes last night after not seeing them after their escape from CADMUS did Barry realize how much things have gotten hard for the thirteen-year-old, not only in her superhero life but her civilian life as well. 

“Y’know, I haven’t seen Wally that protective over someone besides the times where he still thought I was going to steal Iris away from him,” Barry laughed, trying to brighten her mood.

Dixie chuckled, “Yeah, he reminds me of my brothers when they get protective as well but definitely not to their extent, which I greatly appreciate.”

Barry hummed. “Well, older siblings are always protective of their siblings, some more protective than others but they have their ways of showing how much they care for their siblings,” Barry smiled. 

The two of them stopped in front of her school, some students arriving as well but otherwise not bothering the two. Barry handed over Dixie her duffle bag which she slung over her shoulder before smiling softly at her. 

“You’re always welcome over at mine and Iris’ home,” Barry said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “But just remember that your father and brothers love you even if they show it in ways you don’t particularly like.”

Dixie chuckled sadly, “Yeah, thanks, Uncle Barry.”

“See you around, kiddo,” Barry said before turning back walking away. 

Dixie watched him walk away for a minute before sighing and turning to walk through the gates of her school.


	19. Chapter 19

School was uneventful for Dixie, she barely paid attention in class and she didn’t even notice the concern glances Brandon was shooting her every now and then. When the bell rang signifying the end of classes, she hardly even noticed.

“Hey Dixie,” Brandon said as he approached her, his concern evident. The redhead already had his bag slung over his shoulder, waiting for the ebony girl. “You ok? You’ve been out of it since the start of the day.”

Dixie just nodded before stuffing her things in her bag. “Yeah, just some stuff happening at home,” the ebony explained, grabbing her bags and leaving the classroom, Brandon following her. 

“You sure? Did something happen yesterday?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah but Bruce said we’re going to have a family meeting about it,” Dixie said, trying to brush it off.

Brandon winced, “That bad huh?”

Dixie sighed and nodded her head. As they approached the gate of their school, they noticed the black car parked right in front, with Alfred waiting outside.

“Well, gotta get it over with,” Dixie sighed, waving Brandon goodbye before rushing to the car.

“Goodluck!” Brandon yelled after her before walking his way back to his house.

Dixie walked up to where the elderly man was waiting before giving him a small smile. “Sorry for running off last night without telling you or Bruce where I was going,” she apologized.

Alfred smiled softly, “It’s quite okay Miss Rachelle but I hope that you’ll be the one to call where you were staying for the night.”

Dixie let out a small laugh before getting in the car and quickly noticing that Jason was already there, waiting for her as well. Her smile quickly dropped as Alfred closed the door behind her and heading to his seat to drive them home. 

“Hey,” Jason greeted, her immediate older brother let out a small strained smile. 

Dixie nodded her head in acknowledgment before turning her attention to the view outside her window. She heard Jason sigh from where he sat but said nothing. She was grateful for that since she didn’t know what to say to him and didn’t want to deal with her family right now, not when she would have to do it when they get home. 

The car ride was quicker than she wanted it to be, arriving at the manor for what felt like mere minutes to her. She stared at the manor as if it was a prison and the last place she wanted to be. It was her home but the idea of having to confront her brothers again placed a negative feeling inside her and now she needed to confront her father as well.

“Miss Rachelle?” Alfred asked, breaking her thoughts, already having opened the door for her. Jason already got off before her, now in front of the manor door, looking at her concerned.

“Thanks, Alfred,” Dixie said, getting out of the car. She grabbed her things but as she was getting her duffle bag with her clothes, Alfred got it. 

“I’ll take care of this Miss,” the butler said. Dixie sighed before giving him a thankful smile knowing full well to not argue with Alfred. 

Jason entered the manor with Dixie following a couple of steps behind him. When the two teens entered they saw their two older brothers and Bruce already waiting for them in the living room. From the looks of things, they were already discussing about something and that Damian and Tim were already arguing with one another. 

“Hey,” Dixie greeted under her breath as she and Jason approached the living room.

Damian stood by himself, his arms crossed, glaring a bit into their second oldest brother while Tim and Bruce were seated by the couches.

“Dixie, how was school?” Bruce asked in acknowledgment.

“Wow, my day went fine thanks for asking,” Jason tried to joke before plopping himself on the couch Tim was seated, their older brother looking like he wanted to say something to Jason before just letting it drop.

“Eventful,” Dixie said dryly, her distaste and wanting to leave evident to her family. She sat down in a single chair, dropping her school bag beside her. “Can we just get this over with?”

“What happened last night?” Bruce asked, no longer beating around the bush. “Tim and Jason already told me their part of the story but I wanna hear it from you.”

“So it’s only after I leave without telling anyone is when you all actually start caring about my side of the story?” Dixie hissed, her anger over the past week tipping and boiling.

“Grayson,” Damian warned but Dixie just glared at her oldest brother.

“Why?” she asked, the hurt and pain finally leaking through. “Do none of you trust me? Is that why you all lied?”

“Dixie, no,” Tim denied. “We were just scared.”

“... so you don’t believe in me. You don’t believe I can handle things on my own?” the thirteen-year-old said to herself.

“No, Rachelle, we do believe in you,” Jason said, sitting straighter, all his joking gone. “We do believe in you. Hell, if we didn’t believe in you do you actually think we’ll allow you to go out at night to fight Gotham’s craziest?”

“Then why did you lie to me? Lie to us?” she asked.

“Dixie, we didn’t do it to hurt any of you, we did it to protect you,” Tim explained.

“I don’t see how that was protecting us,” Dixie argued. “How is lying to us about going to the Justice League headquarters protecting us?”

“We don’t know,” Damian spoke up. “But we didn’t want to take the risk.”

“Well, you did and this happened,” Dixie said, slumping in her chair. 

“And we’re sorry,” Bruce said. He stood up and walked towards her before kneeling on the ground and clutched her hand, wrapping his hand around her’s as if trying to protect her and keep her safe in his palm. “We’re sorry for lying and hiding about this from you and the team. We’re also sorry for not talking to you after al this.”

“But why?” Dixie asked, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes.

Bruce brought her in for a hug, a hug she so dearly missed. She returned the wholeheartedly, her fists clenching around his shirt as she hid her face in his neck, wanting her tears to be hidden for the world to see. She felt a hand on her left shoulder before Tim spoke up.

“We were scared to lose you, we just wanted to protect you,” her older brother said once more. 

“Yeah, we just wanted you to be safe,” Jason said from her right. 

“You’ll have to let me go someday, I can fight my own battles,” Dixie said, her face still hidden in her father’s embrace.

“And you will,” Damian said. “But not now, when you’re older.”

“And not so suddenly, we’ll let you go slowly,” Bruce said, rubbing his hand comfortably on her back.

Dixie nodded, sniffling slightly before lifting her head. “Yeah, that’s all I could ask for.”

After that, the comforting feeling of her house came back, the tension gone, and all were forgiven. It was late at night when Dixie heard the door of her bedroom open and felt someone slip into her bed. Dixie hummed in appreciation as she felt Damian bring her closer to him. Smiling to herself, she snuggled closer to her older brother and falling back to sleep, feeling the happiest she’s ever been for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say that I have an Insta now @lost_in_a_dream_7 so if you guys want to be notified when I update, you can check it there!
> 
> Hope you all stay safe and remember, wash your hands :))


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